Erin Napier says hotel at center of 'Home Town' spinoff was 'lost' in blazing fire

HGTV star Erin Napier is speaking out after her best friends "lost their labor of love," a hotel at the center of a new show on the network.

The "Home Town" cohost, 39, appears on the reality TV renovation series alongside 41-year-old husband Ben Napier, and posted an Instagram photo Aug. 26 of the Heirloom Hotel with a fire truck putting out the fire.

Napier wrote that "after so much celebration last week, today my best friends (fellow married couple Jim and Mallorie Rasberry and Josh Nowell) lost their labor of love." The Heirloom is at the center of the upcoming spinoff "Home Town: Inn This Together."

Napier added: "Before they ever even welcomed the first guest. Praise God, no one was inside. We held each other and watched while the brave fire fighters from the Laurel FD worked for hours to get it under control. Today feels like a funeral. But I know these people. They won't give up here."

Napier provided the update after telling fans in a home video last week that "we made another show on the side," describing it in a separate caption that their best friends were "crazy enough to buy a long vacant cornerstone building in downtown Laurel and convert it into a boutique hotel."

"I don't know what will happen next or if you'll ever get to see this @hgtv show now. I don't know much of anything," Napier said. "Pray for my friends and family, please. It is hard to explain how this reverberates through our town and its progress in many ways. But I know God has a plan for this setback. He always knows the way, even when we don't."

HGTV spokesperson Chelsey Riemann told USA TODAY on Aug. 27 that "we are grateful for first responders who were able to quickly contain this fire and that there were no reported injuries." They did not comment on the yet-to-be-aired show's status.

One of HGTV's most famous and popular couples, the Napiers' flagship show first premiered in 2016. The show follows the family renovating homes in small town Laurel, Mississippi, and spawned other spinoffs like "Home Town: Ben's Workshop" and "Home Town Takeover."

On Friday, Aug. 22, HGTV posted on its social media pages that "Inn This Together" would follow "the duo joining forces with their family and friends Jim, Mallorie, and Josh to restore the dilapidated 1930 Kress building in downtown Laurel."