To begin with my guess is that the fire started somewhat earlier than 9:30 since I heard emergency veichles go past my house,4 miles North of the lodge which is at MM 82 before 9:30.
Fire fighting equipement was brought in from all the local areas including Islamorada, Tavernier, Key Largo, Layton and probably Marathon.
I just left the scene about two hours ago and there were fire trucks from Dade County there as well.
Cheeca lodge is a huge area with over 200 rooms and much of the main building was ablaze last night and much of all 4 floors burned.
Initial rumors are that kids were playing with fireworks and several brush tikis caught on fire. One employee told me the roof caught on fire and the fire trucks had a hard time getting equipment there in time.
The Herald has Islamorada in the Middle Keys but its really in the Upper Keys.
The damage will be in the millions.
As we left the scene a bride still in her dress was standing in front of the guard shack still dazed from what happened. My wife told me that the bride had forfeited her deposit elsewhere so she could be married at Cheeca.
And the groom...?
Short honeymoon. :-(
Thanks for the report, rodguy.
“Islamorada”???
What’s the history on that name? Hadn’t heard of it before.
Terrible news. The Cheeca is a great place. Thanks for the eyewitness report. Please post some pictures if you can.
Rod, sounds like the main building was destroyed. True? We used to belong to the “athletic” club and hung at the small pool with other locals, but by the time we moved up to here it was getting pretty full of barging-in Miami-ites. Slobs.