Police have launched an investigation into the cause of the fire that devastated the Royal Albion Hotel on Brighton seafront at the weekend.
East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service will now have a reduced presence at the scene as operations are scaled back.
Demolition has not started today but is expected to get under way this week and to continue for at least a fortnight.
A stretch of the seafront road will remain closed while this takes place.
Sussex Police said: “Sussex Police are investigating the cause of the fire at the Royal Albion Hotel in Brighton in liaison with East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service.
“Police were made aware of five rooms where occupants had initially not been accounted for but they have now all been located safe and well.”
The fire service said: “We acknowledge that this incident has had a big impact on residents and businesses in the area and we thank them for their continued patience and understanding.
“This was a complex, difficult and large-scale fire due to the construction of the building and the very high winds.
“At the height of this incident, there were 15 fire engines on scene, with support from neighbouring services.”
Assistant Chief Fire Officer Mark Matthews said: “We were able to save a large part of the building from damage due to the significant and sustained efforts by crews.
“Wearing breathing apparatus and using aerial appliances, crews attacked the fire from the roof space and at every level down to the basement. From visiting the site, it is clear without our early and sustained intervention the entire building would have been lost.
“As well as the operational effort, there was an equally significant effort to ensure the incident could be resourced continuously for more than 36 hours – and this involved support from our neighbouring services.
“Our colleagues in West Sussex FRS (Fire and Rescue Service), London Fire Brigade, Surrey FRS and Kent FRS provided support to ensure that our crews were rotated and relieved without any break in the firefighting effort.
“Fire and rescue services regularly support each other during challenging incidents such as this and have long-established and well-practised procedures for doing so.
“These resourcing arrangements were carried out through an operations room set up in Joint Fire Control.
“While dealing with the Brighton fire, we responded to a number of other incidents across the county. This was a major incident but our continuity and resourcing arrangements worked extremely well, resulting in all incidents being responded to in the normal way.
“I would like to acknowledge the professionalism and dedication shown by crews, officers, control and partners who contributed to this incident. My thanks go to all involved.
“We regularly train for multi-agency incidents and it is important to highlight how well the operational response was co-ordinated and delivered and therefore acknowledge the crucial part colleagues from Sussex Police, Secamb (South East Coast Ambulance Service), Brighton and Hove City Council and Southern Water have played in responding to this incident.
“A police investigation is now under way, and we will be supporting them with the fire investigation.
“As the emergency phase of the incident draws to a close, our efforts now are on supporting our partners and particularly (the council) with the recovery effort, maintaining our operational readiness and carrying out a full and thorough debrief to ensure we draw out learning and improvements from this incident.”
It is going to cost the owners to reinstate to the same style.
From a YouTube video I’ve seen of this; I cannot believe the general public we’re more concerned about standing about videoing it than for their own safety. Anything could have happened like building collapse that smoke was very close to the pedestrians, if the police state “move back’ they are doing it your safety but it seemed many people were ignoring that advice and potentially putting themselves and others in greater danger. Seems we’ve lost the rules of common sense in this country.
Many were.
I think the police should be more concerned how a video got posted of somebody inside the building videoing.. police cordon.
You seem to have forgotten the other businesses the night club national express to name two
Britannias insurance must be getting pricey with all the incidents in the same building. Maybe it’s time for them to sell up
Will the people who were smoking in their room be prosecuted for causing the fire? A tab was left smouldering which caught fire in one of the window frames.