Roma's historic Royal Hotel collapses in intense blaze

Residents have captured the extraordinary moment the Royal Hotel in south-west Queensland collapsed while being engulfed by fire yesterday.

The intense fire, which is suspected to have started in the kitchen of the historic Roma hotel, broke out just before 6pm AEST.

Witnesses watched in horror as the blaze brought the building crashing down before their eyes.

“It was like a fireball, within 20 minutes it had been consumed,” witness Tom Gillespie said.

Four fire crews were called the incident, where witnesses say flames leaped 10 metres into the sky.

“It’s a real tragic event what happened last night, sort of still coming to terms with it now,” Hotel Manager Sam Ingham-Myer said.