DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The city of Daytona Beach condemned a hotel Friday after a huge fire gutted the building.
- No one has been reported injured
- Officials unsure how fire started
Firefighters spent hours up on the ladder truck, still hitting the Bayview Hotel on Orange Avenue with water hours after the fire began.
It is unclear what started this fire but firefighters worked to make sure the fire does not spread to other buildings nearby.
However, the building is in danger of collapsing because of the fire damage. Demolition will start Saturday. Part of Orange Avenue where the hotel is will be shut down for that work.
Daytona Beach Fire Department responded just before 5:30 a.m. Sasha Staton, of the fire department's communication relations department, stated in a news release that originally the fire broke out in a boiler room.
Nearly 40 people were evacuated. No one was hurt during the fire and people who were evacuated are now being assisted by the Red Cross.
Then just before 8 a.m., out of nowhere, the fire sparked again and the firefighters battled it for six to seven hours.
This was a long stay hotel, located at 124 Orange Ave. in Daytona Beach., and some people basically lived there.
Initial damage reports were about $50,000 but that has likely increased.
Some of the guests described what happened inside the hotel.
"All of the sudden there was just smoke, and it wasn't that bad of smoke, but within minutes immediately it must've rolled. An explosion happened, and it was just a big roll of smoke, and that's what made it hard for everybody to get out," described Carla Prinky.
Christina Spence was proud of her room at the Bayview Hotel.
"My room looked the nicest at Bayview -- you wouldn’t believe it," Spence said.
The city said the hotel has been run like a boarding house since 1988. The hotel has been owned by Plantation Acres LLC since 2014.
"A lot of people have lived here a long time. You have the majority of the people low income, poor health," Spence said.
Fire officials said 36 people were evacuated.
"You could see the flames, and when I went down the stairway out the back, you saw the flames from the storage unit the black plumes too," Spence said.
Spectrum News 13 looked into the hotel and discovered on the Volusia County's property appraiser's website that it got a new roof back in August 2014 and in January 2013 the new fire emergency stair system was installed.
There is also a list of the city's code violations on the building including fire damage in 2013, but there were few details.
The Red Cross said they provided client assistance cards to get a hotel, food, clothing, to replace what they've lost.
They also handed out food and water throughout the day.