Fire destroys Ryley Hotel – village loses historic 100-year-old landmark

Firefighters bravely try to control the blaze at Ryley Hotel Sunday morning, which is already completely out of control in this on-the-spot photo courtesy Robin Kozdrowski

The Village of Ryley lost an historic landmark Sunday morning when a fire broke out at the Ryley Hotel in the early hours of the morning.

It was the only hotel the village had, and now it sits in a heap of ashes with only a portion of the walls left standing.

Ashley Rand, 18, saw flames just starting to escape from a window as she was coming home from a night out in Holden. She lives just west of the hotel on the same block of 50th Avenue and said she could smell the smoke as she came near.

Her two friends were still in the car as she had been the designated driver for the night.

Rand immediately called 911 and said the Ryley Fire Department was the first to respond. By then, she noticed there were already flames roaring from the bottom of the building all the way up to the roof.

Rand believes she was the first to call in the alarm, with reports setting the time at 6:45 a.m. The fire trucks started to arrive at 6:57 a.m.

She ran inside to wake up her father, who… For more see the Jan. 21/14 issue of the Tofield Mercury