The damage caused by a fire that ripped through a downtown hotel is expected to reach the muti-million-dollar range.

After a fire erupted on the second floor on Saturday, the Executive Inn in the 500-block of Victoria Street remains closed.

“We’re looking at quite a significant number,” said David Deol, hotel general manger.

“We don’t know the number yet, but we’re told it’s in the millions.

“It’s too early to tell.”

The fire broke out in the second-floor laundry room and quickly spread through the floor’s east wing.

Deol, who discovered the fire, said the heavy, black smoke from the blaze seeped through the heating and ventilation systems, destroying the third, fourth and newly renovated fifth floor.

“The site is ugly,” he said, noting the hotel just spent $1 million to revamp the fifth floor earlier this year.

“We did a site inspection on the second floor east and determined that it’s heavily damaged.”

Earlier this week, Deol met with the city’s building inspector, the fire department, a local insurance company and adjusters to tour the hotel to determine what needs to be done before it can reopen.

The first goal, Deol said, is to get the lobby, lounge area, kitchen and catering portion of the hotel operational within the next two weeks.

First, however, hotel management must present a life-safety plan to city officials and the fire department to ensure the fire-alarm system is working.

Management must also hire a structural engineer to establish the extent of the damage.

“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Deol said. “We’ll try to open a few rooms, but we don’t know how many or when — there’s lots of smoke and water damage.

“It’s a big job,” Deol said.

Since the hotel isn’t in business, 65 employees are out of work, something Deol said is a major concern.

“It’s very devastating for our employees right now because Christmas is only 23 days away,” he said, adding Executive Inn staff will have the opportunity to work with some of the clean-up crews to supplement lost income.

The hotel is also taking a financial hit, having lost the revenue not only from hotel guests, but from the dozen-plus Christmas parties that were booked in advance.

“It’s a huge blow because we’ve had to relocate all those Christmas parties,” Deol said, thanking the other hoteliers in town for their support.

“We’ve managed to secure space for everyone, so everyone has been relocated.”