Most of Granville's Buxton Inn spared after Tuesday morning fire
The majority of Granville's Buxton Inn was spared after a Tuesday morning fire at the historic site.
Granville Township Fire Department Chief Casey Curtis said the bulk of the fire was in an attic above the inn's kitchen.
As of Tuesday morning, Curtis said it was unclear if the fire started in the kitchen or the attic.
"That's why we have the investigators here to try to determine that," he said. "Most of the damage is above the kitchen."
While most of the damage was to the attic, the kitchen did have significant damage as well, Curtis said. There was no fire damage to rooms, he added.
All guests and employees were accounted for and there were no injuries, Curtis said.
At 8:34 a.m., Granville Township Fire Department was called to a reported fire at 313 E. Broadway in Granville.
The fire was labeled a second alarm commercial fire because of the complexity and size of the building, Curtis said. Close to 25-30 trucks responded to the scene, including Granville Township, Heath Fire Township, Monroe Township Fire Department, Newark Fire Department, West Licking Joint Fire District and St. Albans Township Fire Department. That amounts to about 50-60 firefighters, Curtis said.
Curtis said crews from Plain Township, Newton Township and Newark Township responded to the scene but were not needed.
The Licking County fire investigator was one scene by 10 a.m. Tuesday and Curtis said the state investigator would also be coming to determine the cause of the fire.
The fire, Curtis said, was contained by about 9 a.m. and firefighters would continue to watch for hotspots.
Nicholas Peters and his wife, Tricia, had been staying at the hotel while on a trip to celebrate their fifth anniversary. After spending Friday through Sunday in the inn's Pearl House, the Peters switched to a room in the main portion of the hotel Monday night, the last night of their stay.
The couple, who live in Detroit, Michigan, specifically choose the Buxton Inn for their trip because of their love for spooky and haunted places. After talking with locals at Seek-No-Further Cidery Monday night, the couple specifically requested to switch to room seven, which is supposedly haunted. Peters said they were told people report a phantom smell of pipe tobacco and when they turned the heat on Tuesday morning, they did smell tobacco.
"It smells like tobacco, very heavy smell and it just kept getting stronger and stronger," Peters said. "All of a sudden, we're like, is this room filling up with smoke? I thought somebody was playing gimmick on us like somebody had went and put like pipe tobacco in the furnace or in the heat exchanger."
Soon the fire alarm went off, and the couple opened the door and heard alarms going off in other rooms as well. The couple quickly grabbed all of their belongs and fled. Peters said he believed they were the only couple in the Buxton Inn overnight, and they had actually gone on a tour of the whole inn Monday evening.
"We saw a lot of the stuff, and now it's gone," he said.
Simon Krajewski, whose grandparents Orrville and Audrey Orr owned the hotel for more than 40 years, came to the inn Tuesday morning to see the damage himself.
He said it was tough to see the kitchen area destroyed. When his grandparents purchased it in 1972, the village was attempted to tear down the inn and turn it into a parking lot. The Orrs purchased it and spent more than two years renovating it and bringing it back to it's original glory.
Krajewski said the Orrs registered the inn as a historical site and began purchasing the homes around the inn, renovating them and turning many into guest rooms. His grandparents, who still live locally, sold the inn in 2014, he said.
"If it weren't for them in the 70s, we may not be looking at a Buxton at all today," he said.
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Most of Granville's Buxton Inn spared after Tuesday morning fire
