General News
30 October, 2025
Lascelles Minapre Hotel destroyed by fire
The small community of Lascelles is devastated after the Minapre Hotel was destroyed in an overnight blaze.
Emergency services were called to the popular Henty Highway pub at 2.10am on Thursday, October 23.
Four people were safely evacuated from the building.
Almost 12 CFA units from Lacelles, Hopetoun, Turriff, Woomelang, Warracknabeal and Sea Lake attended the scene with aerial assistance from Mildura.
Ambulance Victoria and Victoria Police were also on site.
CFA Lascelles incident controller Daniel Floyd said everyone was safely evacuated from the building.
"All staff members, the two owners, their worker and a guest were safely evacuated," he said.
"There were no injuries at all and everyone's safe."
Firefighters worked for several hours to bring the blaze under control, with flames spreading throughout the pub.
"We are just keeping an eye on it, waiting for the fire investigation team and building surveyors to arrive." Mr Floyd said.
CFA Commander Dennis Thomas said smoke alarms save the lives of all the occupants.
“Smoke alarms save lives and that’s exactly what’s happened here overnight,” he said.
“We would have arrived to a very different scene if this building didn’t have working smoke alarms.”
Mr Thomas said sadly, the historic building was completely destroyed.
“This hotel was the local pub, post office and bottle shop to the town," he said.
"It was the place locals went for dinner.
"This is a massive loss for the town and they’re devastated.
“The four occupants also lost everything.”
The fire was brought under control at 5.25am.
Authorities have not yet determined the cause of the fire.
The site remains under observation, and the area around the hotel has been secured.