Restoring 61 compact skier

My son and I are restoring a 61 compact skier. When we took up the floor boards it became apparent that at one time there was fire damage to the surfaces of the stringers and the battery box. No real structural damage but but ugly. I will sand and paint, but my real question here is we found a very large bilge blower mounted up underneath the bow, air supply by a scoop located on top of the bow just ahead of the windshield.. Now, could this blower be stock, it looks large enough to be used on a residentual home and 6 in sq. metal duct facing the engine compartment?
From my knowledge of inboard boats the bilge blower should be an exhaust, not intake. Looks like if it was on, it would be an air intake to supply in a fire situation. It aint going back in, I bought a new blower and figure to mount it next to the fuel tank.
I would sure like to know what really happened to this boat, as we also found a repair on the bottom with a very well aplied patch. Somebody had a very scary situation at one time..
It would sure be interesting to find out what really happened. I can only guess??

Thank you, I was pretty much sure of it not being original and your confermation is appreciated.
T