Historic Creemore building sustains heavy fire damage

A fire broke out at 157 Mill St. in Creemore early Thursday morning, displacing several residential tenants and the one restaurateur. 

A resident living above Home Hardware called in the fire at 1:41 a.m. and began knocking on doors to alert tenants to the fire, although the fire alarms were working.

The building is the current location of La Cucina restaurant, but once housed the Sovereign Restaurant and is one of Creemore’s historic commercial buildings.

Clearview Township Acting Fire Chief Scott Davison said when crews arrived firefighters found fire on the main floor of the restaurant and out the side of the building. He said the fire extended up into the second and third floor.

Davison said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

High winds fanned the fire causing it to progress quickly, he said, resulting in a collapse of the centre part of the roof. Three stations and an aerial truck from Collingwood were called in to fight the fire. Crews remained on site Thursday morning, using chainsaws and axes to gain access to smouldering fires in the walls. 

“With fires of this size, you have to let them sit for a little bit to see if the fire starts up again and put out the hot spots,” said Davison. 

He said due to the cold weather, the water has frozen and once it starts to thaw, the fire could start to smoke again. Firefighters remain on scene to keep watch. 

“It was a very stubborn fire and there are a lot of apartments,” said Davison. “A great job by firefighters.”

Tenants from the six apartments had already escaped the building when firefighters arrived, but three cats had to be removed from one of the apartments. 

Davison said all of the apartments have sustained very heavy damage, making the building uninhabitable.

The fire is not suspicious but investigators from the Fire Marshal’s office were called to investigate due to the size and the estimated dollar value of the fire.