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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.

More than 50 firefighters battled the blaze. Pic: Walsall Fire Station
Image: More than 50 firefighters battled the blaze. Pic: Walsall Fire Station
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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.

@WMASHART of a fire crew attending the scene as a Holiday Inn next to Junction 10 of the M6 in Walsall has been evacuated after the building went up in flames. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday August 2, 2019. Photo credit should read: @WMASHART/PA Wire
Image: The building was evacuated and there were no injuries. Pic: @WMASHART

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.

@WMASHART of a blast as a Holiday Inn next to Junction 10 of the M6 in Walsall has been evacuated after the building went up in flames. Picture date: Friday August 2, 2019. Pic: @WMASHART
Image: The two-storey Holiday Inn was almost completely destroyed by the fire. Pic: @WMASHART

"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."

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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.

Screengrab taken with permission from the twitter feed of @WMASHART of a blast at the Holiday Inn next to Junction 10 of the M6 in Walsall has been evacuated after the building went up in flames. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday August 2, 2019. No-one has been reported injured as the hotel was evacuated. See PA story FIRE Walsall. Photo credit should read: @WMASHART/PA Wire
Image: Smoke could be seen from the M6 motorway. Pic: @WMASHART

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.