Brownsville Firefighters are investigating an early morning fire at a hotel in downtown, the second one in less than 48 hours.
The flames engulfed the Hotel Economico on 12th Street and Adams on Sunday just past 2 a.m.
"We haven't been able to actually make entry into it as much as we want to because of how dangerous it is right now inside," Arson Investigator Lt. Joel Rodriguez told Action 4 News.
Authorities reported no injuries from the fire, but they said there was substantial fire and water damage.
"The whole top half of the apartment is pretty much gone it collapsed during the fire so it's making it more difficult to investigate," Rodriguez said.
One of the local merchants, Maria Russel said she believes the fire was intentional.
“Someone threw a bottle with gasoline into that building," she said. "I'm glad no one was hurt in the fire, and I’m not happy about the way it happened, but I think it’s a good that it did.”
Russell has her store just a few blocks away from the hotel.
She said even though the hotel was in a historic building, it did not provide anything of value to the city. Instead, she said it brought down the image of the downtown area.
“I hope there's no more debauchery and that the area gets a little cleaner,” she added.
The fire at the hotel is the second one in the downtown area in less than 48 hours.
Another fire ravaged a warehouse on Friday morning, just five blocks away.
“We don’t wanna speculate that they are together,” Lt. Rodriguez said about the possibility of the two fires being related. “We wanna keep each fire separate and investigate in our own way."
No cause for the second fire has been found at this time.
The work for investigators will continue the coming week.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKGBT