Maindample Pub - Destroyed
Police and fire investigators will on Wednesday attend the scene of a blaze that destroyed an historic hotel in northeast Victoria overnight.
The Bridge Inn at Maindample, a popular stopover spot for people heading to Victoria's snowfields, was well alight when fire fighters were called to the scene at 11.51pm (AEST) on Tuesday.
A number of patrons staying in a motel behind the historic pub were evacuated, Country Fire Authority spokesman Scott Hamilton said.
Nine trucks and about 45 firefighters attended the scene of the blaze, which was finally extinguished about 2.15am.
The hotel started to collapse during the fire and is structurally unsound, Mr Hamilton said.
The damage bill is estimated somewhere between $500,000 and $750,000, he said.
Mr Hamilton said the local community would feel the loss.
"It will have a fairly significant impact on the community there in Maindample," Mr Hamilton told AAP.
"It was a well known historic hotel, all the people heading to the snowfields would know it, it was a fairly popular stopover point for people."
Fire investigators and police will return to the Maroondah Highway premises on Tuesday morning to investigate the cause of the blaze.
Police have established a crime scene at the site although it is yet to be determined if the blaze was suspicious.
Maindample lies between the towns of Bonnie Doon and Mansfield on the Maroondah Highway.
