Hundreds of firefighters battle blaze at top UK hotel
A historic country house hotel has been ravaged by fire.
Crews from 18 fire engines battled a blaze at Crathorne Hall Hotel at 10am on Wednesday morning.
Flames could be seen through the windows of rooms on the top floor as smoke filled the air, but, luckily, all guests and staffed evacuated safely.
A spokeswoman for Hand Picked Hotels, owner of Crathorne Hall, in Yarm, North Yorkshire, told Gazette Live: "An evacuation has taken place and all the staff and guests are out totally safely.
"The fire began in a wing of the hotel and has been confined to that area."
The four-star hotel was recently renovated and has 37 bedrooms, sitting in 15 acres of grounds.
Lord Crathorne, whose family used to own Crathorne Hall, still lives in the hotel grounds and saw the scene unfold.
According to the Daily Mail, he said: "I went up there when I saw a fire engine and ambulance go past my house and it looked very bad.
"In terms of the building, it's pretty devastating but the main thing is that no-one seems to have been hurt or lost their life."
He added: "Apparently the firefighters were battling to make sure it didn't get to the main part of the building.
Lord Crathorne has lived in Crathorne House, in the grounds of Crathorne Hall, since the historic hall was sold in 1977. He was last in the hotel on 12 September when family and friends threw a surprise 75th birthday party for him.
He told the Gazette Live: "It's a wonderful building. When it was built in 1903 to 1906, it was the largest house built in Edwardian England.
'It's massively important architecturally and a very large building. When we lived there, it had 115 rooms and 45 bedrooms.
'I just feel great sadness for everyone involved and all the wonderful people who run that hotel so well."
"I think the damage will be tremendously bad, I'm afraid, but when you think of other historic buildings which have suffered even worse damage, they have been restored and Crathorne Hall will be too.
"It's a sad moment, but the main thing is there has been no loss of life."
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