Incredible drone photos taken from above the Royal Albion Hotel in Brighton show the extent of the devastation caused by this weekend's fire.
The hotel started burning at around 5.30pm on Saturday afternoon and firefighters were still tackling the blaze well into Sunday evening.
In their latest statement, released today (July 18) East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said they are continuing to support the community affected by the incident, which, they say has now been handed over to Brighton and Hove City Council (BHCC).
In statements released today, ESFRS said:
East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service are scaling back operations at the Royal Albion Hotel in Brighton following a serious fire but will continue to have a reduced presence at the scene.
Cordons are still in place, and we are still asking the public to avoid the area and find alternative routes of travel.
We acknowledge that this incident has had a big impact on both residents and businesses in the area and we thank them for their continued patience and understanding.
This was a complex, difficult, and large-scale fire due to the construction of the building and the very high winds.
At the height of this incident, there were 15 fire engines on scene, with support from neighbouring services.
Director of Service Delivery and Assistant Chief Fire Officer Mark Matthews said:
“We were able to save a large part of the building from damage, due to the significant and sustained efforts by crews.
“Wearing breathing apparatus, and using aerial appliances, crews attacked the fire from the roof space, and at every level down to the basement. From visiting the site, it is clear without our early and sustained intervention the entire building would have been lost.
“As well as the operational effort, there was an equally significant effort to ensure the incident could be resourced continuously for more than 36 hours, and this involved support from our neighbouring services.
“Our colleagues in West Sussex FRS, London Fire Brigade, Surrey FRS and Kent FRS provided support to ensure that our crews were rotated and relieved without any break in the firefighting effort.
“Fire and rescue services regularly support each other during challenging incidents such as this and have long established and well-practiced procedures for doing so.
“These resourcing arrangements were carried out through an operations room set up in Joint Fire Control.
“Whilst dealing with the Brighton fire, we responded to a number of other incidents across the county. This was a major incident, but our continuity and resourcing arrangements worked extremely well, resulting in all incidents being responded to in the normal way.
“I would like to acknowledge the professionalism and dedication shown by crews, officers, control, and partners who contributed to this incident, my thanks go to all involved.
“We regularly train for multi-agency incidents, and it is important to highlight how well the operational response was coordinated and delivered and therefore acknowledge the crucial part colleagues from Sussex Police, SECAmb, Brighton & Hove City Council, Southern Water have played in responding to this incident.”
A police investigation is now underway, and we will be supporting them with the fire investigation.
As the emergency phase of the incident draws to a close, our efforts now are on supporting our partners and particularly BHCC with the recovery effort, maintaining our operational readiness, and carrying out a full and thorough debrief to ensure we draw out learning and improvements from this incident.
He later added:
“This incident has had an impact on the local community, and we are determined to help where we can.
“Today, our crews and protection teams have been supporting the surrounding businesses and residents with advice and guidance to ensure the impact on them is minimised wherever possible.
“This will enable the community to recover and return to a sense of normality. We would urge any concerned businesses, or members of community, to contact us for any further advice and support, should they require it."
A full fire investigation is currently underway leads by Sussex Police, which we are supporting and no further details about the cause of this incident can be released at this stage.
In a statement released yesterday (July 17) Brighton and Hove City Council said:
Our Building Control Team are on site and contractors will begin the demolition of the damaged section of the building as soon as possible. We’re anticipating the demolition will take 2 to 3 weeks.
The demolition is to help the fire service’s access to the site, as parts of the building are no longer structurally safe.
UKPower Networks and Southern Gas networks are on scene to ensure that that all electrical and gas are isolated and made safe prior to any work progressing.
Asbestos is known to be in the textured ceiling coatings used in the building but there is unlikely to be any significant risk of exposure to asbestos following this fire.
The area around the hotel has been cordoned off and our on-site contractor will continually assess the risk
Unfortunately, the properties directly behind the Albion Hotel will remain inaccessible due to the risk of falling debris during the demolition process. Anyone affected by this is able to contact our housing team for advice and support.
We are grateful to residents and visitors for their ongoing patience and understanding.
Council Leader, Councillor Bella Sankey said:
“I want to give my heartfelt thanks to emergency services and everyone else who supported the response to the awful fire at the historic Royal Albion Hotel over the weekend.
“Sadly, the building has suffered significant damage and we’ll need to keep the roads closed while it’s made safe.
“We’re asking everyone to continue following advice from emergency services and to please keep away from the area.
“We’re sorry for the ongoing disruption – thank you for bearing with us while the area is made safe.”
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