Firefighters have credited smoke alarms for waking Kerry Stockwell, his wife Toni and guest Warren Laver, who managed to flee the Star Hotel before it was destroyed by the blaze.

More than 50 firefighters, many from surrounding towns, battled to save the historic High St building, which was more than 100 years old and had recently been renovated.

Region 24 fire operations officer Nige Parsons said the publican had called the fire brigade at 1.30am yesterday after he was woken by the sound of the smoke alarms.

The pair had been sleeping in a back bedroom attached to the hotel.

“He had a go at the fire himself using a fire blanket and realised it was too big for one man to tackle himself and made a triple 0 call,” he said.

“It just proves again how effective smoke alarms are in that early warning, it gave the occupants enough time to get out of the building with no injuries to themselves.”

Mr Parsons said firefighters using breathing apparatus entered the building but were forced to evacuate when parts of the roof started to collapse.

Problems with water supply forced firefighters to draw water from a nearby creek and cart it back to the scene.

It took almost three hours for the fire, believed to have started in the kitchen, to be extinguished.

Fire investigators do not believe the fire is suspicious.

Crime scene tape was placed around the burnt-out remains yesterday as detectives from the Wodonga criminal investigation unit attended the scene.

“I spoke to the publican in the early hours of this morning, he pointed to the fact that it had started in the kitchen perhaps a deep fat fryer; all indications that is the area of origin and fire investigators are here purely to determine the exact cause,” he said.

He said most of the publican’s belongings had been destroyed in the blaze.

“We managed to salvage a few things, some personal effects and a little bit of cash but as you can see they have lost most of it,” he said.

Nearby residents said the pair had only taken over managing the pub last October.

Warren Laver, from Alice Springs, who had been staying at the hotel for a week said the fire had been difficult for emergency services to fight.

“It would have been like fighting a blind fire because once they thought they had it, it would then burst out of a cavity on the other side of the roof and then went into the house at the back of the pub,” he said.

“We just stood back and let the professionals do their job.”

The publicans were too shocked to speak with the media yesterday and remained at the scene for most of the morning.

Sen-Constable Tom Boyle, from Chiltern police, said the Stockwells wanted to convey their thanks to all the CFA members who turned out to help fight the fire.

He said they were devastated by the loss.

The hotel was owned by Alan and Narelle Barassi and Alan’s father Carl.

Carl is a cousin of football great Ron Barassi and the pub featured a lot of sporting memorabilia.