Blaze causes severe damage to abandoned Cornish hotel

A derelict hotel in Cornwall has been badly damaged in a fire.

Firefighters from across the county were called to the fire at the Hotel California in Newquay on Sunday.

Residents were warned to stay indoors and roads were closed in the area for several hours.

A local resident alerted the fire department after noticing the fire while walking his dog.

Gillian Barrie said: “It was scary watching the smoke build up.

“It took a good half hour before we saw the flames and then it was a proper inferno inside.”

She added that it was “very sad” to see the front of the hotel collapse.

Gillian Barrie said she heard “bangs and broken glass” inside the hotel

A spokesman for Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service said: “We are in attendance at a large derelict building in the Newquay area.

“We have more resources present.”

A spokesman for Newquay Community Fire Station said it was a “significant fire” and asked people to avoid the area as a “large amount of fire apparatus” was needed to deal with it.

The Hotel California has been vacant since it closed in 2021.