Fire erupts at closed Fort Myers Beach building

Flames could be seen bursting from the top of a building on Fort Myers Beach as the town works to bounce back from Hurricane Ian.

Barry Lawrence saw the fire as it erupted.

“Nobody’s in the building; the building has been gutted, and they’re rebuilding right now, but it’s actually a blessing not anyone’s in the building,” Lawrence said. “They’re doing really great work down here, bringing things back, so it’s just sad to see this happen.”

Lawrence says he is thankful no one was hurt but sad to see this happen so soon after the hurricane.

“Another day in paradise in some ways, but we will we’ll work through it,” Lawrence said. “And we’ll take back take a small part, and we’ll go ahead and get everything rebuilt for them and build back Fort Myers Beach better than it was before.”

Crews were able to contain the fire before it could spread anywhere.

“The fire seems to have been contained to the roof, the area at the very top where you see the pitch part,” said Scott Wirth, chief of operations with the Fort Myers Beach Fire Department. “The units below it have no fire inside, which is a good thing.”

Paul Williams, whose company is working on the property, shared photos of the damage.

“Things like this are proof that you can’t catch everything,” Williams said. “You know, there’s acts of God, there’s accidents, there’s things we’re just thankful nobody was hurt. No workers were hurt, and nobody was in there.”

While the cause of the fire is still under investigation, Williams says there is a good chance it could have been some sort of electrical fire.