The Ol’ Frontier Restaurant in Revelstoke, B.C., burned to the ground early Saturday morning.
The Western saloon-themed family restaurant — which stood prominently since the 1960s at the intersection of Highway 1 and Highway 23 in the mountain town around 150 kilometres northeast of Kelowna — hadn’t been open since 2017, but rooms in the attached motel were nearly at capacity the night of the fire.
At around 12:30 a.m. PT, guest Andrea Dunlop said she woke to banging on her door and thought she heard someone yelling, “Fire!”
“I went outside and you could see the flames coming up over the top of the motel,” she said.
People were running around, says guest Janet Evans, who described the parking lot as “chaotic.”
“Obviously when you wake from a dead sleep to something like that, panic sets in,” she said.
After taking in the scene, Dunlop decided to return to her room for the night, which was at the far side of the fire.
“There was nowhere to go, all the hotels were full. It’s pouring rain. We’re soaking wet, it’s freezing cold,” she said.
Evans and her daughter, Ashley, decided to spend the night in their truck, in a parking lot away from the fire.
The Revelstoke Fire Department said no one was injured in the fire, which is under investigation but isn’t being considered suspicious.
The restaurant was a local landmark, with cowboy cutouts on the porch where visitors could pose for photos.
Since the fire, many people in Revelstoke and the surrounding area have been sharing photos and memories on social media of the ‘Ol Frontier when it was a popular, affordable family restaurant.
Matt Singh, who’s been the owner for 26 years, said he is sad to see it go.
“It was a really cool building, actually,” he said, adding it was built of local timber by local craftsmen.
Four members of staff live in the attached motel, as well as “two or three long-term guests,” Singh said.
He said he’s kept the same rate for many years and doesn’t raise prices in the winter, when accommodations are in higher demand in the ski town.
One of Singh’s live-in staff called him at 12:20 a.m. on Saturday to tell him the building was on fire.
When Singh arrived on scene he saw it was “not good.”
He said huge flames were coming from the restaurant and “licking up against the motel.”
As well as a restaurant and motel, the Frontier complex includes a gas station and store.
Singh thinks it could have been worse if it hadn’t been for Revelstoke’s aerial platform fire truck, which shoots a large stream of water high into the air.
“I think that’s what saved the motel. It was able to get over top of it,” Singh says.
Seven rooms closest to the fire remain closed, and the power remains off. Singh says an electrician will come Monday to assess the situation, and the power may go back on at that time. The doors and windows need to be replaced, but Singh says, “it’s not too bad.”
The night after the fire, the rooms that remained open were at capacity.
As well as providing a low rate in a town facing the same affordability crisis as the rest of the province, Singh said he provided four rooms last winter to Community Connections Revelstoke Society, which runs the local emergency shelter. He hopes to do the same this winter.