Two firefighters were injured while battling a fire at the Pine View Inn in Coldbrook, N.S.

The blaze was raging in the motel's convention centre by the time fire crews arrived at about 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

"Firefighters initially made an interior attack on the fire but were forced back by the fast moving fire," the Kentville fire department said in a statement.

Crews from 17 fire departments in the Annapolis Valley helped to contain the fire.

"The situation started escalating quite quickly and it definitely went from a small fire to a big fire quite fast and the crews got into a lot of heat and smoke," said Ryan MacEachern, the deputy fire chief in Kentville.

"They encountered open flame and it was travelling the ceiling and it was going right from the first floor to the second floor."

The firefighters were hurt in the icy conditions, the CBC's Phonse Jessome reported from the scene early Thursday.

Jessome said some roads near the motel are closed because water used to fight the fire has frozen. The local school board has changed some bus routes.

By daylight, Lt. Dwight Hines said hotspots were still a problem.

"When you can't see where the smoke is actually coming from but you have a general idea of the general area, what you do is you spray the water at the walls and the ceilings or debris above where the smoke is coming from and what it will do is it will deflect the water down into where you hope the fire is," said Hines.

The motel on Highway 1 near Kentville was part of the Wandlyn chain until two years ago. A restaurant and bar opened recently.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time.