A heavy, 5-alarm fire broke out at a multistory hotel in Hyannis, Mass., Sunday afternoon, according to fire officials.
The blaze at the Hyannis Harbor Hotel at 213 Ocean Street began around 2:30 p.m., Hyannis Fire said. It began on the first floor, and spread to the second and third floors, as well as the attic. Heavy wind gusts pushed the flames upwards and challenged fire crews to prevent them from spreading to other parts of the hotel.
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It's unclear how many guests were in the hotel at the time, but officials say everyone made it out safely.
The fire was put out within a few hours, but smoke continued to rise from the roof into the evening. For thosewho witnessed the scene, it was a quite a sight.
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"Flames started shooting up through the roof, you see the roof start to cave in," said Alex Marchant, who works nearby.
"They were pouring water on the roof, smoke was billowing out," Hyannis resident Brian Cleary said.
It was a gusty day by the shore, and fire crews say that wasn't a small factor in their efforts to fight the flames.
"Certainly, the wind had a pretty substantial impact on our ability to rapidly extinguish it," Hyannis Fire Chief Peter Burke said.
One pair was supposed to have arrived and checked in to the hotel when the fire started, but were running late in arriving.
"She wanted to leave and get to the hotel, I was like, c'mon, let's stay for one more beer, we're having fun. We stayed for one more beer, and it looks like it was probably a good decision," Nick Berube of New Hampshire said.
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"Lo and behold, the hotel we were supposed to be staying at - we were about to check-in actually - caught fire," Molly Helides said.
The Red Cross of Massachusetts said earlier in the afternoon they were responding to the scene, and an unknown number of adults and children were reportedly being displaced.
Firefighters say the cause of the fire is still unknown, but that it was the third major fire to break out at the hotel within the past decade.
