A fire destroys Blackpool hotel

A fire ripped through one of Blackpool’s hotels on Monday night destroying in a scene that one fire fighter described as looking like something out of the “blitz”.

Around 100 firemen attended the blaze at the six storey Grand Hotel on Station Road. There are 60 holiday flats located in the building and about 100 people had to be evacuated from the inferno as well as revelers in an adjacent nightclub. Police have said that they expect the building will have to be demolished now.

Other guesthouses close by were also cleared of people in a precautionary measure by the emergency services. Investigators currently at the scene are not sure what was the cause of the fire but said they are not ruling out arson at this early stage.

“It’s a scene of absolute devastation, the hotel was collapsing,” said a fire service spokesperson. There were no injuries in the fire which started shortly before fire crews arrived on the scene at 21:50. Guests that were staying at the Grand were taken to the nearby Palatine Sports Centre.

The Sandcastle Waterpark was in close proximity to the hotel so fire crews pumped around 250,000 litres from the park to help control the blaze.

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