PHOTOS: Century-old hotel in Gull Lake burns down

The Clarendon Hotel has been standing in Gull Lake for more than 100 years, but Sunday morning it was enveloped in flames. 

The fire started around 8 a.m., Scott Sundquist was there walking his dog and says he heard the siren sound.

Sundquist said the volunteer fire crew was at the hotel quickly,

“They hooked high-vol hose lines up to the hydrants and proceeded right up to the building and started spraying water right through the glass there, the busted glass.”

Despite the quick response, Sundquist said the fire grew.

“From there on it just seemed to get worse and worse, and by the time we were leaving Gull Lake she was full rolling fire there.”

By about 11:30 a.m. photos on social media showed the roof of the building has collapsed and parts of walls seemed to be all that was standing.

The Town of Gull Lake was asking people in the community to conserve water Sunday morning, as lots of water was being used to fight the fire.

Photos take by Sundquist show smoke from the fire drifting toward Highway 1 and reducing visibility.

RCMP officers were dispatched to the scene, as well as a tanker/pumper and on-duty crew from Swift Current.

Gull Lake is 54 kilometres west of Swift Current on Highway 1.