Firefighters from across Rhode Island, including North Kingstown, East Greenwich and Warren, were on the scene assisting the Newport Fire Department as they worked to contain a devastating fire at the Wayfinder Hotel on Monday evening.
According to Newport’s Fire Chief Harp Donnelly, the cause of the blaze has not yet been determined. The fire was first called in around 8:05 p.m. An hour later, large flames and billows of smoke were shooting into the night sky and a portion of the hotel’s roof appeared to collapse.
As of 10:45 p.m., there were no fatalities or reported injuries. Donnelly said there were also no known pets remaining in the building.
The Wayfinder is located across the street from the old Newport Grand Casino site. Large portions of Route 138 were closed Monday night in the vicinity of the incident.
Scores of onlookers gathered outside the hotel late into the evening to watch the fire crews work. Before midnight, several firefighters on ladder trucks began smashing the exterior windows on higher floors, where smoke was still pouring from the roof.
Scott Karn, a Newport resident and former firefighter, was one of the onlookers at the scene. He said, “I would say that with the volume of water that they’re putting on this structure, that in itself can be destructive too.”
“They’re maneuvering ladder trucks from various fire departments to vent the roof,” he explained, as he watched the crews at the scene. “North Kingstown vented the roof in two different spots on the third story of the building, so that certainly helped. But there’s still a great deal of heat.”
Several locals said they came to the scene after hearing sirens on an otherwise quiet Monday evening. Newport resident Charles Casper walked by the hotel an hour after flames were first reported, and he said the scene “looked pretty dangerous.”
“When I first walked by, I could see that the right side of the roof was engulfed in flames,” Casper said. “You could just see the thick smoke coming out. It was not your average blaze. It came definitely from the bottom floor all the way through the roof.”
Newport spokesperson Tom Shevlin said the Wayfinder is one of the city’s largest hotels, and it’s unknown how many people were in the building when the fire broke out. The hotel opened in 2020 after being renovated from the former Mainstay Hotel. The Wayfinder’s website describes it as a new boutique hotel, with 197 guest rooms, “created by a group of local chefs, bartenders, artists, designers and entrepreneurs proud to call Newport, RI home.”
This is a developing story and will be updated as information becomes available.
