Sixty firefighters needed to tackle blaze at country hotel

Ten fire engines rushed to the scene including two from Midhurst, one from Petworth, two from Petersfield, another two from Chichester and firefighters from Liphook, Shoreham and Bosham.

They were called when fire broke out in an 'annexe' wing of the hotel containing bedrooms.

But all the guests had checked out on Sunday evening at the end of a weekend conference and the hotel was empty.

Firefighters using breathing apparatus went into the burning annexe to try to stop the blaze spreading before being forced out when the roof started to collapse.

Other crews pumped water from a pond at the back of the hotel while more firefighters undertook a salvage operation to rescue furniture.

They fought the fire for more than three hours and were able to contain it in the 'new wing' annexe.

But nearly three quarters of the annexe roof was severely damaged in the fire along with half the floor space which suffered from heat and smoke damage.

The alarm was raised just after 11.30am by co-owner of the three-star hotel Sylvia Vedovato.

"The fire alarms went off and from the inspection panel in reception we realised the fire was in what we call the new wing," said Mrs Vedovato. "I telephoned 999 and the duty manager went to check it out and saw smoke coming out of the roof."

Fortuntely, she said there were no guests and only four members of staff were in the hotel at the time.

She said the fire had badly damaged the new wing which had ten bedrooms and conference facilities.

But the main house, which contains another ten bedrooms as well as the restaurant, bar and kitchens was unaffected by the fire.

Mrs Vedovato, whose flat is also in the main building, was confident the hotel would be back in business as soon as firefighters declared it safe to return to the building.