Holiday Inn fire: Guests flee Walsall hotel ravaged by blaze
Residents are told to keep windows and doors closed after a major fire almost completely destroys a West Midlands hotel.
Saturday 3 August 2019 17:25, UK
A Holiday Inn hotel has been almost completely destroyed by a huge fire in the West Midlands.
More than 50 firefighters battled the blaze after emergency services were called to the scene in Walsall at around 4.30pm on Friday.
The two-storey hotel was evacuated but no injuries have been reported.
Neil Griffiths, incident commander for West Midlands Fire Service, said: "There's been some significant firefighting operations as you can see from the devastation."
He added: "What we are trying to do is restore everything back to normality.
"We want to find out what the cause of the fire is and any future investigations we can do over the next few hours.
"We are going to be here for a considerable amount of time due to the size of the building."
Reassuring nearby residents, he added: "However, all the smoke you can see shouldn't affect all the surrounding houses, however it would be advisable to keep your windows and doors shut."
West Midlands Fire Service group commander Nigel Sowden told local media that crews had been called to a sauna fire.
They were initially sent into the building but had to withdraw due to the severity of the flames, he added.
Smoke from the fire could be seen from junction 10 of the M6, although there were no reports of disruption to traffic.
An investigation into the fire will continue during the weekend.