General manager Ashraf Elsergany has been working at the St Martin’s hotel since 1999.
He said the fire broke out in the kitchen while his daughter, 26-year-old chef Aya, was cooking breakfast.
She had just drained a batch of hash browns when the fryer set ablaze.
The flames spread quickly and though she could not reach through them to turn off the fryer, she immediately thought to switch off the gas before she ran to wake up her father.
‘I thought it was a false alarm,’ said Mr Elsergany.
‘Until I heard the banging on my door and Aya screaming. I entered the kitchen and I saw hell. I was in a bad dream. All I could see was fire, the rest was black – like a hell gate.
‘But it’s my responsibility too. I reached for the fire extinguisher, hoping to calm it down, but the bottle emptied and it was still going. I threw the fire blanket, but it was too much.’
After seeing everyone standing at the fire assembly point outside, Mr Elsergany said his next impulse was to bang on all the hotel doors, grab the guest list, which had the names of everyone staying in the hotel, as well as the duty rota and ensure that everyone was accounted for.
He was then assisted by an officer to re-enter the building to shut down the electrics.
‘My most important thing is for everybody to be safe,’ he said.
‘My daughter did the right thing. I’m so proud of her. She is so brave.
‘It’s nice to know I taught her well, she’s a fighter.’
Once back outside, Mr Elsergany and his daughter were assessed by ambulance crew and later taken to hospital for smoke inhalation and were soon cleared. All the while, they were checking in with staff for updates.
The hotel employs 12 staff members, 10 of whom live on site in staff accommodation around the back, Mr Elsergany said their home has been cleared, and they are all back in their accommodation, being looked-after and fed with take-aways.
‘Everybody’s been cleaning,’ he said.
‘I said “just carry on as normal” I don’t want anybody to feel down.
‘I tell them they have their food, their wages, everything is fine. I need them to know they did everything perfectly and supported the hotel from their heart. They all care about this place, it’s a family. Some of them have been for eight years.
‘To be honest I’m so proud of them, I’m so lucky to have this team. When the customers came back to get their belongings, all my staff were there helping them. The customers hugged them.’
Mr Elsergany said, though he still cannot go into the kitchen, the rest of the hotel seems mostly undamaged.
He is waiting for insurance to go ahead so they can get a contractor in and start rebuilding the kitchen.
At this point, it is unknown how long that will take. But he wants to assure islanders, they will work hard to get their chefs back baking their ever-popular sourdough and Guernsey gache as soon as possible. He added that he had just ordered a new oven to keep up with the growing demand for the hotel’s popular bakes. It is due to arrive in two days.
‘Anything can happen,’ he said
‘We live day by day, hoping for the best and sometimes accidents happen. What we’ve learnt is we have to keep the right people working with us and hopefully I will wake up from that bad dream.’
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