A three-alarm fire caused $8.5 million in damage early Tuesday when it ripped through a four-story hotel under construction in Carmel Valley, forcing the evacuation of about 400 people and destroying more than two dozen vehicles.

The fire broke out around 1:45 a.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn on the corner of Vista Sorrento Parkway and Ocean Bluff Avenue. About 200 people from the nearby Archstone Torrey Hills apartments and 189 guests from the Homewood Suites by Hilton, a hotel adjacent to the construction area, were evacuated.

No one was injured. The fire’s cause has not been determined.

Eighty firefighters from San Diego, Del Mar, Solana Beach and Encinitas had the blaze under control in about 1½ hours, said San Diego fire spokesman Maurice Luque.

Firefighters deluged the inferno with about a thousand of gallons of water per minute from three ladder trucks.

“We had to go defensive on the fire and pour a lot of water on it to put it out, and to protect the hotel, which was maybe 30 to 40 feet away,” Luque said.

It was still smoldering several hours later. Luque said firefighters would remain at the site for most of the day.

At the hotel next door, the 120-room Homewood Suites by Hilton, about half of the rooms were damaged as windows shattered and curtains went up in flames. Hotel employees went room to room and firefighters broke down doors to make sure no one was left inside, said Robert Rauch, the hotel’s general manager.

Several cars parked in the hotel’s lot had burned down to their metal shells and several others had their windows blown out, with all the rubber and plastic parts melted like candles. The fire department said 30 vehicles, including a fire truck, were damaged by the blaze.

“It looked like a war zone,” Luque said.

About 130 of the hotel’s guests, including several children, had to be relocated to three nearby hotels, Rauch said. Others were given other rooms in the undamaged south side of the hotel, which was nearly at full capacity, Rauch said.

The hotel used a banquet room for evacuees and gave them blankets and drinks, Rauch said. By 5 a.m. everyone had been relocated. Rauch said the guests were calm and appreciative for the most part and very orderly.

Rauch said he lives just five minutes away and rushed to the site after one of his employees called. He arrived before the fire department did. “From the distance, I could see the hotel was gone, he said.

He put the project’s cost at $14 million. Todd Lacher, 37, a computer applications specialist from Colorado Springs, was in town for a training class. He had arrived about 9:30 p.m. Monday night and went for a drive in the early morning because he could not sleep. As he returned to the hotel, he saw the building next door engulfed in flames.

All of his electrical equipment, including his camera and computer, were near the window in his second-floor and were either charred or soaked or both – along with everything else he had brought with him. When asked what he had left, he said, “What’s on my back.”

Scaffolding was up around the 80-room hotel, which had just been framed. All the floors were in and the drywall was to be installed. The pool had just been completed, said Joe Simone, President of Del Mar Hotels Inc.

The hotel had been expected to open in September, Simone said.

“It’s devastating. You want to cry but you are too busy, the adrenaline is too high,” Simone said as he surveyed the damage.

Residents in five buildings in the three-story Archstone Torrey Hills apartment complex on West Ocean Air Drive had to evacuate, said community manager Jason Lee.

About 12 apartments in two of the buildings closest to the blaze were damaged by heat and smoke and several cars were also damaged. Windows were also blown out. About 20 people were displaced, Lee said.

Bob Wilkinson, 68, a developer who lives in an apartment complex across the street from the fire, said he was asleep when something woke him up and he felt like a big ball of fire was coming into his room.

“I got up and looked outside and saw a massive fire,” he said.

He said he heard cars exploding and saw balls of fire coming from them. He got a camera and started taping.

Valerie Harlow, who lives in the same complex, said the air was filled with smoke, ash and embers. The gate around her complex was hot.

“You could feel the intensity,” she said.

The fire department damage estimate includes $6 million to the building under construction, $500,000 to the property and $500,000 to the contents of the Homewood Suites.

In addition, there was about $500,000 in damage to contents and property at the Archstone apartments, about $500,000 for the 30 cars, including one fire truck that was damaged and $500,000 to construction equipment on the site.

information from : www.signonsandiego.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 at 4:41 am and is filed under Hotel. Tags: Banquet Carmel Valley Colorado Colorado Springs Community construction equipment curtains Fire Department Garden Inn Hilton Hilton Garden Inn Homewood Homewood Suites Hotels Maurice Luque Property room hotel rubber San Diego Solana Beach The Buildings Training West Ocean . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.