Davide Pante was the first to arrive at the Ponte Serra hotel already in flames and remained all day observing the fire extinguishing operations. He struggles to hold back the tears, but he gets strong and also tries to tell what happened: «The firefighters hypothesize a short circuit in the attic.
There is only an electric cable that supplies power to the room’s external lighting. Evidently that was enough, ”he says. Years of hard work pass in his mind, a restructuring done one step at a time, first by relaunching the bar, then redeveloping the outdoor garden, then enhancing the restaurant and finally opening the b & b service with eight rooms.
Hotel on fire, a hard blow to Lamonese tourist prospects
A bitter observation: «If it happened during the day with all of us present we would have solved the situation. I’m sure we could have put out the fire right away. Instead it happened at night and the fire had time to expand before anyone noticed it. ”
Then his reconstruction: “At 4 a friend called me who was passing in front of the hotel,” says Pante. “You told Me you saw smoke coming out of a dormer high above. With my wife we tried to arrive as soon as possible. I also went up to try to put out the fire, but the situation was already compromised and when I opened the door the oxygen fueled the flames further. Following the firefighting courses I realized that I couldn’t do much. Immediately after sleeping the firefighters arrived and they too tried, but it was too dangerous. The smoke had invaded a large part of the attic and it was impossible to intervene ».
Fire in the Ponte Serra inn, lines 26 and 29 of extra-urban transport suspended
Pante can’t understand: «I’m incredulous because the only logical explanation is that of the short circuit, and so the firefighters also confirmed to me. There are none where the fire started. There is only one cable that carries the electricity to illuminate the outside of the hotel. Evidently it was enough ».
One of the first concerns was to evacuate the four guests present in the hotel: «We let them out immediately. They took no chances because the fire spread higher up. Debora went to wake them up by letting them go out immediately. They hadn’t even noticed what was happening. ‘
Firefighters at work in Ponte Serra, the fire has not yet been put out
Pante is surrounded by some people who try to cheer him up: “How many sacrifices we have made in recent years, and now here we are, with nothing left,” he says with a voice cracked with emotion. An adventure that began in 2017, which saw Davide and his wife increasingly involved also in the promotion actions of the entire Lamonese plateau, so much so that in June of last year, Pante himself was elected to the presidency of the Tourist Association Lamon.
Pante has already contacted the insurance with which he signed the policy that protects the hotel from events like the one that happened the other night. It will be a long work of appraisals and checks, which however can only begin when the firefighters have extinguished the fire and concluded the checks.