Yahoo News Firefighters battle huge hotel blaze through the night
Firefighters are still at the scene of a huge fire in Cornwall after battling the blaze throughout the night. Fire crews have been tirelessly working on extinguishing the fire, which broke out yesterday afternoon (Sunday, June 30) at the Hotel California in Newquay.
Firefighters had to battle the fire in sections due to the size and poor state of the building. The roof collapsed around 7pm, and missing floorboards meant crews had to extinguish the flames from the outside of the hotel.
At 8.49pm, almost five hours after the fire service was called, the building was confirmed as 'well alight'. Just before midnight, the fire was contained and crews worked on preventing further spread of the fire.
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Firefighters worked tirelessly through yesterday evening and last night to contain and extinguish the fire. The response has been scaled back to just three fire engines as on 6.30am this morning (July 1) and crews remain at the scene.
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Emergency services were alerted to the fire at 3.56pm yesterday after it was reported smoke was billowing from the windows of the three storey building. Ten fire engines were called to the fire on Pentire Crescent, after thick black smoke was seen coming from the building.
Eyewitnesses said they could see smoke from miles away. At the time of the fire, one person said: "Hotel California is Newquay is currently on fire. I was just out walking the dog - rang the fire brigade at 4.15pm - they were on their way. It's completely taken hold now. The whole building is going."
A statement from the force said: "The original call at 15:56 stated smoke was coming from windows in the building is of three storeys. At 20:49 the building was confirmed as well alight."
This morning, Cornwall Fire and Rescue issued a statement which said: "Crews have worked overnight to ensure good progress is being made. Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service still remain on the incident ground, however attendance has been scaled back."
A spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police told CornwallLive there was a initially a concern that someone may be trapped in the burning building, but this has not been confirmed. The hotel closed in 2021 and is thought the derelict hotel is used by homeless people.
After the hotel closed at the end of 2021, a design and access statement was submitted with the planning application stating that "after years of steady decay the hotel grew outdated and in a state of disrepair".
The development was expected to see the entire hotel complex replaced with a residential development which would include a building with 20 apartments and four semi-detached houses.
The cause of the fire is not known at this time. Cornwall Fire and Rescue and Devon and Cornwall Police have been contacted for further information.
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