A Sussex artist has salvaged four paintings from his studio that was caught in a fire that tore through a section of the town’s business area last week.

A fire ripped through part of an historic streetscape on Tuesday night and destroyed two buildings and multiple businesses.

Andrew Giffin’s studio was on the upper floor where he stored a series of military history murals that he was commissioned to paint for a museum in Oromocto.

Giffin saw an excavator tear down the building that contained his studio last week, so he wasn’t expecting to find much left when he returned this week.

Four paintings were salvaged out of Andrew Giffin's studio, which was destroyed in last week's fire in Sussex. (CBC)

He assumed the paintings had been destroyed but he actually found four pieces still intact.

"I was elated, you know? Walking on a cloud, I brought them up here, I rolled them out on the floor,” Giffin said.

“I couldn't believe it. I just literally couldn't believe it, that somehow these things survived."

The murals have some punctures and water damage, but Giffin said they can be repaired.

Fred Harrison, who also worked on the pieces for the museum, said the paintings can be repaired.

"We were pleased with the effort we put into these, and we're satisfied to have them go on display,” Harrison said.

“So when you reach a point in a work like that, then it actually starts to be boring when you have to repeat it."

The murals weren't the only pieces to survive.

Some of Giffin's other work had been hanging on the wall of The Soap Works, one of the businesses destroyed by the fire.

Ann Ophaug said there is nothing else left of her handmade soap company, but she said they will soon reopen in a new location just down the street.

"We built the business up from scratch, and we'll do the same thing again,” she said.

“What we have now that we didn't have then is just the overwhelming support of everybody. It's just been incredible to know that everybody's behind us."

Fire officials say the fire started in the back of the building but they have ruled out arson as a cause.