An early morning fire at a Department of Transportation and Infrastructure depot in Eel River Dundee has destroyed the building and the equipment stored there.

Two snowplow trucks, a backhoe and a service truck were destroyed when the garage south of Dalhousie burned to the ground.

Campbellton RCMP are investigating and described the fire as suspicious.

Dalhousie fire Chief Herby Hickey said crews tried to save equipment when they arrived on scene, but it was already too late.

"By the time we arrived, there was already lots of smoking coming from the building."

Nothing left

It took 40 firefighters more than five hours to extinguish the fire, wrapping up at around 8 a.m.

"It's a total loss," Hickey said. "There's no more building left."

He said the fire marshal was trying to determine the cause, adding he didn't want to speculate on what that could be.

"There was nobody on scene, we didn't see nobody here. I can't tell you right now what the cause [is]."

Earlier Wednesday, Dalhousie Mayor Normand Pelletier said the fire started at 2:30 a.m. and two fire departments, Dalhousie and Eel River Dundee, were called to the scene.

"They had to call in a heavy piece of equipment to knock down the building because they were scared that the fire would spread to neighbouring houses."

RCMP had blocked Darlington Street to all traffic.

Pelletier said the building was being used for storage.

Two snowplow trucks, a backhoe and a service truck stored inside were destroyed in a fire at a government garage in Eel River Dundee. (Contributed/Dwayne Lapointe)

He said the cause is under investigation, but he expressed his frustration over it.

"It seems lately that there is a lot of fires that were suspicious fires and in the whole Restigouche County there were a lot of fires that were suspicious."

Last fall, police services in the Restigouche region said they were investigating about 30 fires that have occurred since January 2018, the majority of suspicious origin.

Pelletier said he expects there will be a thorough investigation into this new case.