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Fire at Grand Hotel in Brighton Fire at Grand Hotel in Brighton
(40 minutes later)
Firefighters have been called to what is being described as a "major" blaze at the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Hundreds of guests have been evacuated from the Grand Hotel in Brighton following a fire in a sixth-floor room.
East Sussex Fire Service said four fire engines and an aerial platform vehicle were sent, with some 20 firefighters. Firefighters were called to the scene at around 2000GMT after reports of smoke billowing out of the building.
Guests at the Grand Hotel were evacuated to the nearby Hilton Brighton Metropole Hotel shortly after 2000 GMT. BBC reporter Juliette Parkin said firefighters were now searching the building to make sure the blaze had been completely extinguished.
Janet Ridge, duty manager of the Metropole, said: "We have been told that 400 people are coming. But it could be even more than that." In 1984, the Grand Hotel was the target of an assassination attempt on the then-prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.
Roof smoking It is unclear how Saturday's blaze started.
Initial reports said the blaze started on the first floor of the hotel, but Ms Ridge said she understood it began in the basement. Guests were evacuated to the nearby Hilton Brighton Metropole hotel.
She added: "The smoke is coming out of the roof." Unscathed
"The whole hotel has been evacuated and all the guests have been moved here. We are serving them tea, coffee and sandwiches. We are helping wherever we can." East Sussex Fire Service sent 10 fire engines and an aerial platform vehicle to the scene, our reporter said.
She added that the Kings Road, which runs along the sea front, had been closed to traffic in both directions. Duty manager of the Metropole, Janet Ridge, said: "The whole hotel has been evacuated and all the guests have been moved here. We are serving them tea, coffee and sandwiches. We are helping wherever we can."
The Grand Hotel was the target of a Provisional IRA bomb attack during the 1984 Conservative Party Conference, when five people died. For a time, Kings Road, which runs along the sea front, was closed to traffic in both directions.
Five people were killed in an IRA bomb attack on the Grand Hotel during the 1984 Conservative Party Conference.
The prime minister escaped unscathed but Conservative MP, Sir Anthony Berry, was killed. The wife of the trade and industry secretary, Norman Tebbit, was paralysed.
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