Investigators say the fire at the Buffalo Grand Hotel was deliberately set
BUFFALO — The Buffalo Fire Department has ruled the fire at the Buffalo Grand Hotel on December 30 arson.
Fox Buffalo went inside the hotel on Monday to speak with the owner and because this is an ongoing investigation, we were not able to see the area where the fire actually happened.
On Thursday, December 30, documents were signed to convert the Buffalo Grand Hotel into a Ramada by Wyndham.
Four hours later, at around one in the morning, part of the hotel broke out in flames and investigators are now saying the fire was intentionally set.
Harry Stinson, Owner of the Buffalo Grand Hotel, says, “It’s beyond being disappointed the anger is more than the disappointment.”
Fox Buffalo met up with Harry Stinson, the owner of the hotel, inside the lobby and even days later the whole hotel still smelled strongly of smoke.
“There is an intermediate area in between the ballroom and kitchens, the service area where we plate things, that was an inferno an absolute inferno,” said Stinson.
Although the investigation is ongoing, Stinson says someone attempted to start the fire in several places, but it caught in the area between the kitchen and ballroom, which is in a separate area from the guest wing.
William Renaldo, the Buffalo Fire Commissioner, says, “The current update is that the fire has been ruled incendiary which means it was deliberately or intentionally set and the investigation is ongoing.”
Commissioner Renaldo says there were about 40 to 50 guests in the hotel at the time and only three to four staff members. None of them were injured but one firefighter suffered moderate injuries.
Damage to the hotel was originally estimated in excess of $3 million but Commissioner Renaldo says they will have a more accurate number in a week or so.
“It looks like they were filming a Die-Hard film in there it's really bad,” said Stinson. “It’s tangled this, corroded, melted and so on but it’s a very contained space.”
Fox Buffalo’s Olivia Dance, asked, “Being that this was now ruled an intentional act do you have any plans in the future to ramp up security or anything like that, so this doesn’t happen again to you?”
Stinson, replied, “We actually have a 24-hour presence in the building and the security had just been in that area only briefly before. So yes, we will be accentuating the systems even further throughout the building.”
Stinson says the area where the fire began was under construction so some of the security systems were disconnected and that part of the building was quiet.
“There was literally no presence in that section of the building,” said Stinson. “That allowed them to do their deeds and be in and out.”
Stinson seems to believe multiple people caused the fire, but the fire commissioner says they don’t have any person or persons of interest at this time.
Stinson also says they are hoping to re-open the guest rooms in a few weeks and by spring have the whole hotel reopened.