Firefighters finish damping down at Gateway to Wales Hotel 24 hours after huge blaze

Firefighters finished damping down the burnt out shell of the Gateway to Wales Hotel in Garden City 24 hours after they first received calls that a fire was taking hold in the building.

The fire, which destroyed the roof and most of the first floor broke out just before 4.30am on Monday morning, fire appliances from across Flintshire, Wrexham and Chester were sent to the hotel.

It the height of the blaze up to 60 firefighters tackled the fire at the 40 bedroom hotel on Welsh Road.

Picture Darren Croft-Griggs

Police said they were not involved in the investigation into the fire which is being carried out by North Wales Fire and Rescue Service.

Flintshire Councillor Christine Jones thanked the community of Sealand; “who kindly donated items to the families affected by the fire.

Many of our Garden City residents came forward with offers of help, as did Sealand CP school, ASDA, The Lep, Flintshire County Council and all emergency services.

We were a community in sadness, so thank you all for your help and kindness. We are all so relieved that there were no casualties but there will be mental scares, so our thoughts are with all those affected by today’s (Monday’s) events.”

Picture: Accalia Chamberlain

The owners of the hotel issued a brief statement on facebook saying;

“As a result of the fire at the hotel earlier today, we regret to announce that the hotel is no longer operational for the foreseeable future.

Despite the unfortunate events, we are pleased that our emergency systems functioned well and all guests and staff were safely evacuated.

In the short-term we are assessing the situation and will make a further statement once more is known including the cause which, as of now, is undetermined.”