Fire Damages Hampshire Hotel

More than 30 firefighters tackled a blaze at a hotel in Basingstoke on Saturday (22nd January 2011).

Firefighters from Basingstoke, Overton, Kingsclere and Eastleigh were drafted in after Fire Control operators received reports that the first floor boiler room was well alight at the Beach Arms Hotel and restaurant in Andover Road, Basingstoke.

The alarm was raised at 12:08pm and police cordoned off the area to allow firefighters to tackle the blaze at the popular hotel, bar and restaurant.

Basingstoke’s aerial ladder platform and special equipment unit were also mobilised to the scene, along with Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service’s incident command unit.

Fire crews used six sets of breathing apparatus, two hose reels, and the specialist aerial ladder platform to extinguish the blaze.

Station Manager Ryan Thurman today praised the swift actions of the fire crews.  He said:

“Essentially we were facing a serious fire in the first floor plant room of the hotel. Two members of staff had attempted to tackle the blaze with a fire extinguisher, however the hotel manager took the right course of action by swiftly evacuating the whole premises and alerting the fire and rescue service. 

“If the hotel not had a well-maintained smoke alarm system, I have no doubt that this fire could potentially have spread beyond the room of origin and seriously damaged the roof of the hotel, if not the whole building. The effective evacuation of staff and hotel residents at today’s incident should be commended, as should the successful actions of the fire crews that tackled the blaze.”

A fire investigation is now underway. 

Beach Arms hotel fire