After finishing their first tour of Tasmania on Sunday night, Chris McEwen and his band hit the town to celebrate.

"I was out with some friends and I got told that other members of my band were on their way back to the hotel, one of them called me up and said the hotel was on fire," McEwen said.

"I got the footage from the guys out the front there and … it was pretty devastating."

McEwen said the band usually takes their gear back with them to the hotel, but that night elected to store it in the venue they played in to pick up the next day before heading home to Adelaide. 

"Just before leaving to go to the venue from the hotel, I was actually going to leave my personal belongings there but then at the last minute I decided to bring it with me," he said.

"We did, unfortunately, lose our drummer's laptop [in the fire] … and beers as well.

"But in comparison to the people that lost their jobs, I think it's a pretty small price to pay."

'Blessed that it didn't go more wrong'

After making statements to nearby police officers, he and his bandmates then found accommodation for the night.

"Some friends who helped us put on the show … their housemates put us up in their place for the night, so a rock and roll ending for us, sleeping on couches and partying until the early morning," he said.

McEwen said bearing witness to the blaze would be "up there" for the band as a story from the road.

"We've had incidents where we've just made flights in time … we've had issues with rental cars bottoming out at the last minute but this is definitely up there.

"We're a hot sort of thrash metal band but I didn't think it would cause a fire on our first visit to Hobart in the building we were staying in.

"We're just so blessed that it didn't go more wrong."

Fire treated as crime scene

At a community information meeting on Tuesday morning, Tasmanian Fire Service district officer Mark Dobson said the building's facade appeared to have escaped major damage.

"The facade looks to be quite solid, so the majority of the damage was towards the rear of the premise.

The building itself is mixed construction, I think it dates back to about 1827, there's some quite large sandstone masonry walls in there."

Mr Dobson said investigations so far had involved interviewing witnesses, and the building's owners and occupiers.

Mr Dobson said some of the remnants of the hotel were "quite unstable".

"That would have to be shored up before we are able to commit people in there to continue with the investigation."

He said although there were no suspicious circumstances, the fire site was being treated as a crime scene.

"We treat all fires as a crime scene until we determine that it's not," Mr Dobson said.

Story By | Kate Ainsworth and Loretta Lohberger