Wow Bill. Thanks for reporting that. I was just talking to the guy I always rent from and called him back to tell him.

How many units were affected??

Glad that it seems that nobody was hurt.

Keep us updated.

billd wrote:
I can only hope that it was not caused by the lack of proper maintenance of the unit.

billed

Why would you even go there? Just another dig at Sapphire Resort, you seem to have a million of them. We don't know the cause at this point. I don't think we should be speculating until the facts are in.

There certainly was an endless parade of emergency vehicles headed towards Sapphire this morning for over an hour. I would imagine that the fire (which I understand was confined to one unit) was quickly brought under control as everything quickly quietened down and I'm downwind of Sapphire and didn't smell even a whiff of any burning. Monday morning melee for true!

I'm now hearing that the fire started in a maids closet where they stow roll-away beds, not in any unit. Although there was a lot of smoke, damage appears to be minimal. This probably won't be the last word, but I heard it from two different sources so it sounds pretty solid.

After what the fire service had to deal with at Mountaintop it is likely that the response may have been overkill but understandable.

More on Sapphire Fire

First let me say how impressed I was with the security staff. They went door to door to make sure that everyone was out. There was a lot of smoke and I am sure that it was difficult for them. I think there was about 6-8 apartments occupied. But not sure. When we got there, it was less than five minutes after the fire started they were working the rooms. Again my hats off to those folks.

The A building is roped off. I assume that it is for three reasons.

1. Investigation into what caused the fire.

2. To see what the damage is to the building .

3. To stop onlookers from going in.

For those of you who don't know about the buildings at Sapphire Resort they are VERY VERY good buildings. They are made from concrete and there is concrete walls between the units. So they are very fire safe. When they built these units they were built real well.

It took about 15 to 20 minutes from the reported start of the fire (my guess) to when the fire trucks first started to arrive. The nearest firehouse is in Annas Retreat, or across from Tillet Gardens (were Jack's is). They were very professional. They worked well and they got the crowds to stay back. Most of the guests were in their night clothes. Some had their suit cases that were partially packed. Those in the down stairs with exits to the beach just walked out.

THERE WERE NO INJURIES REPORTED!

The power was off to the bathrooms today. I guess it is related to the problems from the fire.

I assume that if you have private reservations in the A building from individual owners you should call the owner and see what they can do, If you are with Antillies then call them and they will advise.

Althought not as big as the Mountain Top fire, it will get some press in tomorrows paper. So you can all rwad about it and find out the answers, not just my views.

Otherwise things were pretty normal today at the beach. Except that it was very windy. The boat people came The guest were discussing the fire. Dive In said they could have heated their coffee up in the fire. There were no big storms like yesterday when the winds hit 50-60 miles an hour. The beach was beautiful. It was another day in paradise!!!!! (at Sapphire Beach).

Again, my hats off to the security people at Sapphire Resort.

Billd

Just read this in the Daily News this morning.

Click to enlarge

Tippi

Thanks for posting the article tipi.

You're Welcome!

Tippi

Just to let you know they were out power washing the building today. I am surprised that things have moved so quickly. There are still power problems in a few spots but they are working on them.

billd

Today the water was on in the bath rooms. Also there was a temp cable connection so I guess that is done. Looks like all the buildings now have power except Building A which was burnt. Saw an owner of a unit in A building. She was pretty upset in that she flew down last night. It hurts to see things like that. Still smells like smoke however.

More to come!

billd

Wow.....I wondered what had happened, but we're back home in NC and I meant to check the news to see if there were any reports.
We stayed at a Point Pleasant villa for a week and left Wed. 7/22, so were there the morning that the emergency vehicles went down the road and we didn't know where they went. Glad no one was hurt and hopefully, it will not take them long to get the building repaired.

Nothing new.

Billd

THE WHOLE BACK OF THE BUILDING HAS BEEN POWER WASHED.YOU CAN ONLY SEE A FEW PLACES WERE THE FIRE WAS. ALSO THE WOODEN BALCONIES IN THE AREA OF THE FIRE SHOW SOME DAMAGE. NOT SURE WHAT HAS BEEN DONE ON THE INSIDE.

THERE IS STILL AN ODOR OF SMOKE, BUT IT IS NOT AS BAD AS IT WAS A FEW DAYS AGO.

BUT IT DOES LOOK REAL GOOD FROM THE OUTSIDE. FROM THE BEACH SIDE YOU WOULD NEVER KNOW THERE WAS A FIRE.

BILLD

Any updates BillD?

I'm supposed to be staying in building A in October...interested to know the progress of the cleanup.
Thanks!

Apparently they're awaiting a shipment of some electrical parts in order to restore power to that building. October is a while away, even taking island time into consideration so I wouldn't worry too much!

They have cleaned up the place pretty good. But October might be pushing it.

I would look for something else.

let me know if you are interested in looking somewhere else.

billd

billd,

In all fairness, when you suggest to gtjacket02 that s/he look for "something else", you should acknowledge that you do not own any rental units at Sapphire but do own a couple of rental units in another complex. I don't know much about the situation at Sapphire, but I would not look to Sapphire owners or their competitors for unbiased information on the state of the clean-up.

Signed, a VI homeowner and resident who chooses to never own rental property.

Okay, we played tourist Sunday and drove over to Sapphire to see what was shaking. First, it was very quiet, almost no one on a very nice, long beach. The pool was open and looked great. I had been under the impression that the was part of the disputed common area. The grill area was very casual, didn't eat there, but limited menu worked. As we were walking back we were discussing an area of one building and it suddenly came to me that it was the one that had the fire. If I didn't know, if there wasn't yellow tape up, I would never have guessed it was a fire. By October, I'll bet everything is copacetic.