PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Action News spoke with a fire safety consultant who got an inside look at the Belleza at Ponte Vedra condo building, which caught fire last Monday, and he said he suspected the cause was linked to someone smoking a cigarette on the balcony of a second-story unit.
Buddy Dewar said he was hired by a contractor to take a look at the sprinkler system and the damage and provided photos from inside the building.
Dewar is the former vice president of the National Fire Sprinkler Association and said he has 25 years' experience in the business.
"It all suggests there was smoking on the balcony where they had cushioned furniture, and it most likely, in my opinion, led to the cause of the fire," Dewar said.
Action News obtained an exclusive photo from a resident showing the balcony engulfed in flames.
Dewar said because the photo shows the flames at the base of the balcony, it points to the balcony being like the likely point of origin.
"It clearly showed that the balcony was fully engulfed right down to the floor level in flames," Dewar said.
The state fire marshal's office and St. Johns County Fire Rescue said the official cause of the fire still has not been determined, and the investigation is ongoing.
St. Johns County Fire Rescue and Dewar said the sprinkler system for the building was up to code.
"They had a green tag on the system," Dewar said. "There weren't any problems at all with the fire sprinkler system."
Dewar said the building was built in 1996, before sprinklers were required on the balconies for residential buildings like this one.
Dewar said in 2005, new building codes required sprinklers on balconies, but because the building was built nine years earlier, it was not required to follow the new code.
Dewar said he believes the outcome could have been very different if it had those balcony sprinklers.
"The fire would have been contained, kept in check or reduced by that fire sprinkler system," Dewar said.
Action News cameras saw maintenance workers boarding up the building Wednesday, and residents said they were told they will no longer be allowed back inside.
"It's going to be a long road," condo owner Nick Toth said. "You can see the damage. You can see how much just this part of the building was destroyed, and it's amazing that nobody was seriously injured."
Action News has reported that a resident called 911 three times before fire crews arrived to combat the massive fire.
St. Johns County Fire Rescue has placed two people on administrative leave while it investigates the response internally.
WJAX
