UPDATED: The Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service have been called to a large blaze that has broken out on Sandown Seafront this morning (Sunday).
Black smoke can be seen for miles around as a result of a blaze at Tarvic2 hotel on Culver Parade.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that the raging fire has also spread to the adjoining hotel, St Moritz.
Firefighters from Sandown, Shanklin, Newport and Ryde are tackling the blaze with more fire appliances en-route. Hampshire Constabulary and the Isle of Wight Ambulance Service are also on scene.
UPDATE @ 11:46 – Police have now closed Culver Parade and part of Avenue Road.
Southern Vectis Routes 2, 3, 8 and the Downs Breezer will be diverting until further notice.
UPDATE @ 12:20 – The Incident Command Unit has arrived in Sandown to coordinate the firefighting efforts.
An aerial ladder platform is also now on the scene and is being used to tackle the blaze.
UPDATE @ 12:45 – A spokesperson from the Isle of Wight Ambulance Service has said:
“We are attending a serious fire in Sandown.
“Large smoke plumes are present.
“Residents of Sandown and surrounding areas are advised to close doors and windows whilst this incident is ongoing.
“Thank you for your co-operation”
One reader has taken to Facebook to say how ‘good samaritans’ were re-entering the building to save occupants before the emergency services arrived.
UPDATE @ 13:12 – Witnesses say further ambulance and fire resources from the mainland have arrived in East Cowes this afternoon.
UPDATE @ 14:04 – The Hazardous Area Response Team from South Central Ambulance Service have been deployed to the Island to assist the local ambulance service with the incident, however, it is understood there have been no casualties or unaccounted for individuals.
Furthermore, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service have mobilised a number of appliances to the Island to provide fire cover at stations such as Newport and Ryde.
Meanwhile, on the fire ground in Sandown, firefighters continue to battle to fully extinguish the blaze that has destroyed large parts of the Tarvic hotel’s roof.
A total of 8 fire appliances from Bembridge, Ventnor, Shanklin, Sandown, Ryde, Newport and Southsea are now in attendance alongside 2 aerial ladder platforms from Ryde and Newport.
Crews are expected to remain on scene for several hours with the associated road closures to remain in force until further notice.
UPDATE @ 14:55 – It is understood the fire began in the open in an empty space between the 2 hotels, before quickly spreading upwards.
Once the properties have both been dampened down an investigation will begin to determine the cause of this major blaze.
It is understood that utility companies are no on-scene isolating supplies.
The incident continues.
UPDATE @ 16:00 – Jeff Walls, Incident Commander for the Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service has said:
“We were called to an incident that had started on the ground floor between two hotels and that rapidly escalated to affect the hotels either side.
“We’ve got eight fire engines here, two aerial appliances and our command unit here, so this is quite a large scale incident for us. As a result of the resources we’ve got here, we’ve called on our colleagues from Hampshire and they’ve brought over some support pumps as well.
“As it stands, we’ve largely knocked back the firefighting. We’ve reached the stage where we’re starting to damp down, but this is quite a large incident so I can see it lasting for the next few hours.
“There’s around 50 firefighters on scene but we’re starting to reduce those numbers fairly soon”.
There has been a lot of fire and water damage to both hotels.
Investigations are now underway to ascertain the cause of the fire
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