On Sunday night, a large and fierce fire broke out in an abandoned hotel in downtown Austin, filling the skyline with gray smoke toward the University of Texas (UT) campus and the busy I-35 corridor.
The Austin Fire Department (AFD) stated that the huge fire, which started along the I-35 service road, has been mostly controlled. Emergency officials considered the abandoned building fully involved with the fire upon arrival of crews. Authorities quickly discouraged spectators and passing motorists from loitering around 2900 block of the service road.
No Injuries Reported as 62 Firefighters Battle Hotspots
Happily, no injuries were reported by those affected, as the terrible incident turned out to have no casualties. AFD updated in their 7:30 p.m.CDT briefing that the fire was “mostly out,” but they had 62 firefighters still at work managing residual hot spots to ensure total extinguishment so that it would not rekindle.
Only the part of the severity of the flames was so high that even Austin Energy had to sever supply across the entire region. A little farther down, in the direction of downtown, the columns of smoke utterly gave a surprising view from Zilker Park, backdropping the skyline to provide drama for the changing last third and final day of attempting to see through the dust of the continuing Austin City Limits Music Festival.
As the narrative unfolds, investigations continue into the cause of the fire.
