LOCAL fire and police officers attended the fire that gutted the historic Royal Clarence Hotel in Exeter over the weekend.

?Salcombe Fire crew attended on Saturday, October 29, and PCSOs from across the South Hams were deployed for scene guard over the weekend and on Monday.

The fire started at 5am on Friday, October 28, and burnt all through the weekend, destroying the eighteenth century building, the Well House Tavern, a cafe and the Castle Fine Art gallery, where the fire began.

Salcombe Firefighters Mark Furness, station manager, Martyn ‘Banger’ Clacy, crew manager, Andrew Jedynak, Mark Roberts and Jonathan Hawtin were alerted just before 1pm via pagers and were tasked with fighting the blaze from the Mountain Warehouse building.

Mark Furness and Andrew Jedynak were in on the platform spotting Banger, Mark Roberts and Jonathan Hawtin who were wearing harnesses to fight the fire from the edge of the roof.

Spokesman for Salcombe Fire Station, Kieran Luscombe, said: ‘Our guys are all fine, nothing hairy for us as we were brought in after it escalated, because of hidden fire spreading inside the walls. Access to the roof was the most challenging part and the harnesses were needed because they were working on the edge of a five story drop.’

The Salcombe crew were back at home at 11.30pm having spent almost ten hours fighting the fire.

Guests from the Royal Clarence were evacuated in the early hours of the morning and were put up in a nearby hotel. There were no reported casualties, the cause is not thought to be suspicious but due to a ruptured gas main.

A large demolition machine arrived in the city at 7am this morning, Tuesday, to start work on the hotel, which was completely gutted, and a crowdfunding page has been launched by Devon Community Foundation in partnership with Exeter City Council.

Exeter City Council chief executive, Karime Hassan, said: ‘The council is ready with a recovery plan and the creation of this fund to accept donations is a part of that. This is the official fund to help people and businesses in need and the future restoration of the buildings as a result of the fire. Those wishing to help can be sure that the funds will be handled properly by this experienced charity.’

You can find the appeal at: mydonate.bt.com/events/historic-exeter-fire-appeal/370910