Witnesses, former West Palm Beach mayor react to New Year's Eve downtown fire

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The city says New Year's Eve wasn't too much of an issue for the West Palm Beach police department, but it was for the fire department.

A fire broke out in a garage near a Publix just before the New Year and the flames could be seen from all over downtown.

Minutes later, the fire department arrived and was able to put out the flames before the fire spread to the nearby buildings.

Crews said the biggest challenge was just getting to the scene with so many people celebrating the new year.

Those in the area who smelled the smoke and saw the flames said they never imagined bringing in 2012 with a fire.

"No never thought so. You see we had the fire department the same time fireworks were going off the same time. So it was quite a scene," said Donald Booker, a witness.

The fire department said the garage that caught fire is a part of a house that once belonged to a former West Palm Beach Mayor, Joel Daves.

"We assumed sooner or later it would go one way or another but I'm not sure I anticipated it'd go this way," said Daves.

The former mayor spent 30 years at 610 Evernia and only recently moved out and sold the property to CityPlace. Daves suspects the fire might have been started by someone living on the street who was illegally staying inside the garage.

"There are a lot of the older homes that were in the downtown here originally that have gone up that way," said Daves.

Crews said the fire is under investigation and they find it suspicious an abandoned house without electricity caught fire.

YouReporter Raymond shot video of the fire from the balcony of a 17th story apartment overlooking CityPlace.
 To view his video, click here.