The fire at the Royal Clarence hotel has been burning for more than 48 hours
The blaze at the Royal Clarence Hotel, described as England’s oldest hotel, started at 05:00 BST on Friday and continues to burn.
The facade of the building has partially collapsed and its interior walls have been reduced to rubble.
Firefighters extinguished the flames but said they were still dealing with some “hotspots”.
The shell of the building is being monitored with lasers to detect movement, while a thermal imaging camera is helping to show the internal temperature of debris.
Gerald Taylor, from Devon & Somerset Fire Service, said: “Any decision on demolition will be discussed with the fire service, police and local authorities.”
“While the public may not be able to see flames, we are still actively fighting the fires that are burning under the debris,” he added.
“We’re keeping our eye on one hotspot which has climbed from 30 degrees to 140 degrees in the last couple of hours.”
A senior source within the fire service told the BBC that demolition work could begin as soon as Monday, but would be more likely to take place on Tuesday.
The fire broke out above the Castle Fine Art gallery where renovation work was under way, before spreading to the Well House Tavern, a cafe and the hotel.
Guests at the Royal Clarence were evacuated from their rooms in the middle of the night to another hotel nearby. There were no reported casualties.
A spokesman for the fire service said the gallery and hotel had been destroyed by the blaze, but its cause was unknown.
Fire crews used water from the River Exe hundreds of metres away to help tackle the flames. About 80 firefighters remain at the scene.
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