Roof fire that raged at Fort Myers Beach condo building under control Saturday afternoon

A huge plume of smoke billowed from a roof fire at a condo building on the beach side of the north end of Fort Myers Beach early Saturday afternoon.

Smoke billows from a building at the north end of Fort Myers Beach
Smoke billows from a building at the north end of Fort Myers Beach

By 1:45 p.m., firefighters had the fire under control.

Scott Wirth, district chief of operations for Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District, said construction workers were on the second story of the building when a by-passer stopped to let them know that a burst of flames was coming from the southwest side of the building.

"We got a call for a structure fire on the roof and we arrived and that's what we found. It was in that limited space and the fire is under control now," Wirth said.

No one was living in the Bay to Beach Resort condos, 740 Estero Blvd., although hurricane restoration work was underway on lower floors, fire officials said. The building has four stories of living spaces and a parking garage.

No one was injured, the Lee County Sheriff's Office said.

Deana Coates, of Cape Coral, brought her family to the Bowditch Park area for lunch but ended up stuck in traffic as crews worked to contain the fire.

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"We've been sitting here since about 12:30, so an hour-and-a-half or 2 hours," Coates said. "There was a lot of black smoke and flames all coming out of the roof. Someone said they heard an explosion."

Fort Myers Beach fire official says cause unknown:

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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Fort Myers Beach building on fire