A fire described by investigators as ”suspicious” gutted a McDonald’s restaurant under construction in Sisters on Sunday, prompting fears that it was deliberately set.

”If this turns out to be arson, which it’s looking like it is, somebody is very misguided, and totally out in left field,” said Brad Boyd, a member of the Sisters City Council. ”This is not the way you advance your issues.”

The fire was called in at about 4:30 a.m. Sunday, according to a press release issued by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.

The building, which is intended to be a combination gas station, convenience store and McDonald’s restaurant, is located in the western portion of Sisters.

Firefighters from Sisters and Black Butte Ranch extinguished the fire. Nobody was hurt. The fire is ”of a suspicious nature” and being investigated by the Oregon State Police and the sheriff’s office, according to the press release.

Sheriff’s office officials couldn’t be reached for comment.

Plans to build the McDonald’s led to debate among Sisters residents over the wisdom of allowing fast-food chains to expand in the western-themed town.

Last month, the Sisters City Council voted 3-2 against an ordinance that would have limited the amount of franchise restaurants in Sisters to four. There are three other franchises operating there. The ordinance would have barred construction of any more after the opening of McDonald’s.

Mark Peterson, who unsuccessfully lobbied the city council to deny a permit to build the McDonald’s, couldn’t be reached for comment on Sunday. Peterson, spokesman for a group called Sisters Citizens for Responsible Growth, was attending a meditation retreat over the weekend, his wife said. Two couples who own a company that’s been constructing the restaurant and gas station on Sunday vowed to rebuild. Sisters residents Steve and Robin Rodgers and Darren and Donna Layne own the company, called Cache Mountain Development.”I want people to know that this isn’t going to stop us,” Steve Rodgers said. The electricity hadn’t yet been turned on in the building when the fire started, Rodgers said. He said Cache Mountain Development is insured, adding that he was unsure how much money it will take to rebuild. The Laynes placed no-trespassing signs on the property – which is ringed in yellow police tape – on Sunday afternoon. ”Now Hiring” signs adorned blackened windows and sun filtered down through the collapsed roof of the building. The fire gutted the interior of the building, burning furniture and new kitchen equipment that had just been installed, the owners said.”We’re a little biased, but we thought it looked pretty nice,” Darren Layne said. ”But you know what, it can be rebuilt.”The interior of the restaurant was based on an 1880s-style interior design. It was chosen by respondents to a survey conducted by Sisters High School students on what the building should look like. Layne displayed pictures taken inside the building on a digital camera. The photos depicted a stainless-steel icemaker that had warped under the heat and antique-themed chairs with the wrappers still on them, standing in pools of wet, charred debris. The restaurant had been scheduled to open in three weeks, Steve Rodgers said. Sisters City Councilor Judy Trego, who visited the site of the fire on Sunday morning, said she’s concerned that a local resident may have burned the restaurant.”I’m just really disappointed that this happened,” Trego said. ”I was thinking about it and I just can’t believe somebody in the community would do that. I’m just hoping that they didn’t.”Opponents of the construction of more franchise restaurants in Sisters condemned the fire in an email dialogue on Sunday, said John Rahm, a former Sisters city councilor. Rahm, who voted to approve the permit for McDonald’s while he was a councilor, opposes the proliferation of more franchise restaurants. He’s working with a group called Friends of Sisters toward that end. If the fire was set on purpose, Rahm said he hopes that authorities find those responsible for it.”I’m sick about it, it’s a terrible thing for Sisters,” Rahm said. ”It casts a shadow on the town and I’m afraid it’s going to poison the dialogue.”Chris Hagan, who runs a gas station and car-repair shop about a block from the fire, said he has experienced broken windows and other vandalism at his business. Like others in the town, Hagan is operating under the assumption that the blaze was no accident.”To me it’s like a terrorist attack,” Hagan said. ”I mean, what happened to free enterprise?”