VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Virginia Beach Fire Department was on the scene of a house fire on Ocean Front Avenue Friday morning.
According to officials, the fire was reported by a nearby hotel guest who saw the flames shortly before 3 a.m.
When firefighters got to the scene, located on the 5000 block of Ocean Front Avenue, they found that a three-story house that was under renovation with no one living in it presently had caught on fire.
“It’s got to be disappointing and frustrating for the owners whoever owns it to put all that work and time and labor into a house and then watch it overnight just like that,” Brigitte Gottlieb said, a Virginia Beach resident who lives in the area.
Now, a trail of debris on the beach leads up to the home destroyed by an early morning fire.
“The first thing I thought was I hope that this is not a house that anyone is living in,” Gottlieb said.
Gottlieb, who lives nearby, said the sounds of sirens woke her up.
“When I went out to my back deck, I looked out and I saw a ladder and I saw the hose and I could tell it was coming from here,” Gottlieb said.
Several neighbors stopped by the scene Friday morning surprised to see the home ruined. They said the home was under renovation for a couple of years.
“I’m just grateful no one lived in that house," Gottlieb said. "It could have been so much worse.”
The Virginia Beach Fire Department district chief confirmed that the houses on both sides of the scene were okay. However, the damage to the home itself was considered extensive.
Beachside properties in that area of the city tend to be worth millions of dollars.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.