Firefighters battle seaside hotel blaze

FIREFIGHTERS averted a potential disaster yesterday when a major blaze broke out in a Westcountry seaside hotel.

They arrived at the Grand Hotel in Torquay – flagship of Keith Richardson’s multi-million pound hotel group – to find a serious blaze in the sauna and 500C degree heat.

Smoke was pouring from the building and a member of the hotel staff was injured as he assisted in evacuating everyone from the building. Fire chief Alan Gilson said it could have been a disaster but for the efforts of the firefighters.

And there were echoes of the blaze which destroyed Exeter’s Royal Clarence Hotel in October 2016.

Group commander Gilson said: “It was a really developed fire. When I initially arrived we had smoke billowing out from the spa area. It was a really significant fire with flames in the sauna.

“Crews have done some absolutely superb work firefighting in that area and managed to knock the fire back and brought the temperature down from about 500 degrees, and managed to get the fire out within about 35 minutes.

“The whole of the spa is damaged by fire and the sauna is destroyed.”

The fire chief said yesterday that he believed the hotel would remain shut overnight to clear the smoke.

One male member of hotel staff suffered smoke inhalation and was treated at the scene by paramedics.

Members of the public could see smoke billowing from the basement onto the busy main seafront road at about 9.30am.

There was a strong acrid smell of smoke at the scene as seven fire engines from Torquay, Paignton,

Brixham, Newton Abbot, Totnes, and Danes Castle were faced with a raging blaze thought to have started in the sauna.

None of the fire crews were injured and all of the rest of the staff and hotel guests were safely evacuated using new protocols brought in by Devon and Somerset Fire Service, in line with recommendations after the Grenfell Towers fire. Station Manager Rob Cude was deployed as evacuation officer.

“We learnt from Grenfell about the need to have an evacuation officer to get people safely out,” Group Commander Gilson said.

“We know the Grand Hotel well and we’ve been here before. But it’s a huge building with lots of opportunities for smoke to travel in hidden areas.”

Roads around Torquay railway station were closed between Torbay Road, Hennapyn Road and Rathmore Road.

Hotel owner Mr Richardson said he was relieved the blaze was contained in the basement sauna area.

“It is the flagship of my hotel group,” he said. “This is obviously a bit sad, but we are insured for these events. Hopefully it will be back up and running as soon as possible.”