'Devastating' fire consumes hotel, post office in Rennie, Man.

A small community in southeastern Manitoba lost one of the few businesses that remained when a fire destroyed the Rennie Hotel on Thursday morning.

"It's going to be devastating to the community," said Blaine Webster, a councillor in the rural municipality of Reynolds.

A post office attached to the hotel also "looks like it's finished."

The hotel has been closed for about two months, so there were no injuries, he said. But the fire puts an end to any hope it would reopen.

"We've been expecting something to happen," said Webster, who spoke to CBC News while watching fire crews soak the rubble while a bulldozer pushed down what was left of the hotel, originally built in 1939.

"It's going to be pretty much knocked down to the ground here pretty soon," he said around 8:30 a.m.

Flames and smoke started pouring out of the hotel, alongside Highway 44, around 2:30 a.m. Firefighters from two volunteer departments in the area — Whitemouth and West Hawk — have been fighting the fire since then.

Without the hotel and post office, there's little left in terms of businesses in the town of about 100 people, Webster said.

The hotel's owners also operate a gas station across the street, but it too has been closed for more than a month.

"This is the first time in many, many years that this town has been basically shut down," Webster said from a nearby restaurant "that's basically the only business left right now."

Rennie is about 100 kilometres east of Winnipeg. That section of Highway 44 has been closed to traffic while crews fight the fire.

RCMP are investigating the cause of the fire with assistance from the Office of the Fire Commissioner.