Granville's historic Buxton Inn hopes to reopen Nov. 21 after fire

The Buxton Inn will remain closed until late November after a Oct. 25 fire.

General Manager Jennifer Valenzuela said in an interview with the Sentinel Oct. 27 that the inn is targeting Nov. 21, the Monday before Thanksgiving, for reopening. But the restaurant will be closed for months after the kitchen was destroyed in the fire. There is currently no timeline for when the restaurant will reopen, she said.

Valenzuela said she and her family, who have owned the inn since 2014, are trying to stay positive in the wake of the fire.

"Tuesday (Oct. 25) was a very emotional day to say the least. But you know, there's always good that comes out of everything and the good is what we're trying to focus on for sure," she said. "It didn't take the main historical part of the inn. It took the kitchen."

She said the kitchen was the best part for the fire to take because it was very compartmentalized and was a challenging space to work in.

While the original 1812 structure was untouched by fire, Valenzuela said it does have extensive smoke damage. But it did avoid any substantial water damage.

Part of the reason the hotel can reopen so quickly is that most of the rooms are in adjacent buildings, which were unharmed, Valenzuela said.

Investigators couldn't determine how the fire started, Valenzuela said, but it was determined that the fire was caused by an electrical issue in the attic above the kitchen.

The cleanup process started immediately, Valenzuela said. A fire restoration team began working just hours after the fire and surface items, such as artwork and electronics were removed to be cleaned.

With the lobby and other inn areas not functional, Valenzuela said staff members have been working out of her home to make calls, respond to emails and complete other tasks.

"It's been a team effort, for sure. It'll continue to be a team effort," she said. "I'm very fortunate to have a really good group of people behind me."

Valenzuela said the response from the community has been overwhelming as hundreds of people have reached out, including the Village of Granville administration and Congressman Troy Balderson, offering support or help cleaning up.

Valenzuela said she'll have more information in the coming weeks on ways people can support the inn. In the meantime, she said people can go to the Buxton's website to subscribe to a newsletter, which they'll use to share the latest updates.

"We appreciate everybody’s thoughts and prayers, the prayers especially. We’re people of faith, so we definitely appreciate that," she said.

Valenzuela said she and her family are grateful for the work of the Granville Township Fire Department and the other departments that responded.

"They knew that the historical section was important and they worked very hard," she said. "They found a hotspot after they thought the fire was out, and if they hadn't had found that hotspot, it would have taken part of the historical structure."

With inn staff members not due to come in until 9 a.m., the original 8:34 a.m. 911 call came from a pest control technician who was on the property spraying outside for insects when they noticed the smoke, Valenzuela said.

"So had that technician not seen the smoke, the fire would not have been detected until it had actually shot flames," she said. "At that point, it would have taken the main inn. There were lots of ... guardian angels looking out for us and looking out for the Buxton."

Even after the fire was contained, Valenzuela said firefighters returned nearly every hour for 24 hours to make sure there were no hot spots.

Granville Fire Chief Casey Curtis said during the Oct. 26 Granville Township Trustee meeting that the firefighters worked diligently to ensure the fire didn't jump to the 1812 portion of the inn.

"It was about half an inch away from being really bad. It was all because of the guys and girls. They were super aggressive," he said.

He said the firefighters did exactly what they were trained to do and stopped the fire from going any further when it likely would have.

"That's ultimately what stopped it, was getting the water above the ceiling where it needed to be, in an unprotected space where there's no sprinklers, there's nothing up there," Curtis said. "They all deserve hugs, high fives, handshakes, which they've been receiving."

mdevito@gannett.com

740-607-2175

Twitter: @MariaDeVito13

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Granville's Buxton Inn to remain closed until Nov. 21 after fire