An unplanned bonfire lit up the beach in Key Biscayne on Saturday.
Responding to an 11:53 a.m. call from dispatch, 16 Miami-Dade and Key Biscayne fire-rescue units rushed to Cantina Beach – a poolside Mexican restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne.
The culprit of the fire was a nearby rotisserie cooker that set the thatched roof of the tiki-style restaurant ablaze.
Hotel security had already evacuated the pool area by the time the first truck arrived.
“We had to drive practically on the beach,” said Key Biscayne Fire Rescue Lt. Dan Feeney.
Flames could be seen from the Rickenbacker Causeway.
“With those materials, [the restaurant] lit up like a match,” Feeney said.
The Cantina was destroyed, but the fire did not spread to other areas of the hotel.
With only two tables occupied when the hut ignited, no one was injured in the fire. Still, some guests complained of valuables left by the pool during the evacuation, and others gathered on the beach to watch the firefighters extinguish the flames.
