The building may be gone, but the spirit of the community lives on.

White Point Beach Lodge, the popular vacation resort on Nova Scotia's South Shore, suffered a devastating fire on November 12. The resort is a large oceanfront property, home to cottages and beach houses, group lodges and other amenities—all largely centred around the main lodge, which was home to the dining areas, a swimming pool, and about 15 rooms.

"It started about 2:30 in the afternoon on Saturday," says White Point's General Manager, Danny Morton. "We had a full hotel. Some people came to me to tell me there was smoke coming out of [the main] building. I went outside to look, and saw that it was quite serious."

The main building was evacuated and firefighters called in. The first crews came from Liverpool, about 10 kilometres away, but as the fire grew, departments from all over the area joined in. Eventually, Morton says, at least 14 volunteer fire departments were on the scene, helping to contain the flames.

"As time went on, the fire got increasingly worse," says Morton. "Our big old main lodge building was a piece of woodwork from the late 1920s, so it was well-seasoned logs and log construction—a lot of wood. It was a big, hot fire that kept getting bigger and hotter."

News of the fire spread fast through the nearby communities. "It's a small town, and when the fire alarm rings for the volunteer fire department, the whole community becomes aware of the situation," says Morton. "People knew it was quite serious very quickly. I had my first call from Halifax about 40 minutes after I was first aware of the fire. That's how quickly the news spread on social media."

When all was said and done, the main lodge had been completely destroyed, but fortunately, no one was hurt—not even the resort's beloved bunnies. Morton now counts himself as the biggest fan of local and volunteer fire departments in the country. "I've never seen such amazing dedication and teamwork and caring and perseverance," he says.

But it was the community response that really opened Morton's eyes. "The firefighters have the support of the whole community, of course, but during the fire, we started to get worried about them, food-wise, so I had our chef order 20 pizzas to make sure they were going to be fed. But just as the pizzas arrived, the Ladies' Auxiliary from the Liverpool Fire Department arrived—and they've got quite a well-oiled machine. They came in with their trays of sandwiches and water. They just do this," he says, sounding slightly awe-struck.

"Food is one of those things that pops up in people's minds when there's tragedy and also when there's celebration. That evening, guests were bringing leftover food from their cottages to the staff of the main building. We had a half-eaten birthday cake that somebody brought in, and boxes of donuts kept showing up."

White point's Facebook page (facebook.com/whitepointbeachresort) quickly became a focal point for the outpouring of support from all over North America. "It's turned into quite a story. The Facebook page is filling up with wonderful memories and good wishes being shared—pictures and videos and everybody's comments." Morton is also receiving emails galore. "It's taking me a couple of hours a day just to write back and thank people for their kind thoughts and wishes."

The loss of the resort will be felt hard in the neighbouring towns and villages. "White Point has been, for a lot of families, kind of a shining light, in the sense that it has been home and the place of work for whole lot of years. I have been here 30 years, and I'm hiring the kids of the people that I originally worked with 30 years ago. It's a very tight-knit community.

"So the response has been many, many tears. There are still lots of tears—even for me, and I am known for not having tears. I was walking along where the fire trucks were and I looked over and saw... " he pauses. "I saw a front desk clerk who had worked here 10 years ago, just standing there." His voice breaks. "Sorry. It's just one of those special places. A lot of people have created a lot of memories since 1929, and when you look over and see people you've worked with just standing there, crying, it's tough."

Morton says the plan is to rebuild, but for the immediate future, only the vacation rental (timeshare) properties on the adjacent White Point Estates will remain open. His hope is that the resort may be up and running again by the late fall of 2012, but he's very concerned about the loss of work for his employees.

"I love my staff. They have been amazingly supportive to me, and that works both ways. I know I have a responsibility to keep it together and to be organized and make sure we do the right thing for our guests and for ourselves and for our community," he says. "Because they are the community and we are the community—and I never realized to what extent, until this happened."

His smile returns.