Fire at Sandestin Hilton

The South Walton Fire District (SWFD) received a call at 12:15 AM this morning from the Hilton Sandestin Resort. The caller was reporting a large fire in the deck area adjacent to the beach. SWFD crews arrived shortly after being dispatched, to find the entire deck area, including the Barefoots Beachside Bar & Grill fully involved in fire with the flames impinging on the hotel structure.

SWFD crews quickly began an aggressive attack on the fire from the interior of the building stopping the fire from entering the East tower of the structure. Simultaneously other crews were stretching lines through the lobby, across the pool deck to attack the burning bar and grill and beach side deck. ?If it was not for the prompt actions of the first arriving crews, this fire would have ignited the Hilton structure itself. The rapid deployment of hose lines and aggressive fire attack saved this from being much worse? said Sean Hughes, Deputy Fire Chief.
The SWFD called for a second and third alarm to bring additional firefighters to the scene to assist with the firefighting. Units from Destin, Freeport and North Bay all sent units and firefighters; all told, there were 41 firefighters and 17 units on scene battling the blaze. ?We would like to thank our neighboring fire department and Walton County Sheriff Office for all their support this morning: said Hughes.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the State Fire Marshal?s Office

For more information contact Deputy Chief Sean Hughes at shughes@swfd.org or 267-1298.