East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service are scaling back operations at the Royal Albion Hotel in Brighton following a serious fire but will continue to have a reduced presence at the scene.
Cordons are still in place, and we are still asking the public to avoid the area and find alternative routes of travel.
We acknowledge that this incident has had a big impact on both residents and businesses in the area and we thank them for their continued patience and understanding.
This was a complex, difficult, and large-scale fire due to the construction of the building and the very high winds.
At the height of this incident, there were 15 fire engines on scene, with support from neighbouring services.
Director of Service Delivery and Assistant Chief Fire Officer Mark Matthews said: “We were able to save a large part of the building from damage, due to the significant and sustained efforts by crews.
“Wearing breathing apparatus, and using aerial appliances, crews attacked the fire from the roof space, and at every level down to the basement. From visiting the site, it is clear without our early and sustained intervention the entire building would have been lost.
“As well as the operational effort, there was an equally significant effort to ensure the incident could be resourced continuously for more than 36 hours, and this involved support from our neighbouring services.
“Our colleagues in West Sussex FRS, London Fire Brigade, Surrey FRS and Kent FRS provided support to ensure that our crews were rotated and relieved without any break in the firefighting effort.
“Fire and rescue services regularly support each other during challenging incidents such as this and have long established and well-practiced procedures for doing so.
“These resourcing arrangements were carried out through an operations room set up in Joint Fire Control.
“Whilst dealing with the Brighton fire, we responded to a number of other incidents across the county. This was a major incident, but our continuity and resourcing arrangements worked extremely well, resulting in all incidents being responded to in the normal way.
“I would like to acknowledge the professionalism and dedication shown by crews, officers, control, and partners who contributed to this incident, my thanks go to all involved.
“We regularly train for multi-agency incidents, and it is important to highlight how well the operational response was coordinated and delivered and therefore acknowledge the crucial part colleagues from Sussex Police, SECAmb, Brighton & Hove City Council, Southern Water have played in responding to this incident.”
A police investigation is now underway, and we will be supporting them with the fire investigation.
As the emergency phase of the incident draws to a close, our efforts now are on supporting our partners and particularly BHCC with the recovery effort, maintaining our operational readiness, and carrying out a full and thorough debrief to ensure we draw out learning and improvements from this incident.
A multi-agency update has been published on our website here.