Banning's OYO Hotel Red Tagged Again, Marked 'Unsafe' For All

BANNING, CA — Smoke and flames erupted last week from the city of Banning's former OYO Hotel on Ramsey Street. Once again.

Cal Fire/Riverside County Firefighters arrived Wednesday morning to douse the blaze at the red-tagged, abandoned structure.

Banning City Manager Doug Schulze recently told Patch he agrees the structure, located at 1240 W. Ramsey Street, near I-10, is dangerous.

"It needs to come down," he said.

Tear Down Those Walls!

After a fire on February 21 at the hotel, Schulze told Patch, "There's not much left to burn except the structure at this point."

After Wednesday's fire, there's even less.

Now the plan is to tear the structure down to the slab, but there's a legal process to follow, according to the city.

Banning's communications officer Anthony Riley said the city expects to receive authorization to tear down the building by May 22.

Next, a plan for the hotel's total takedown will be put in place, which will start about one month later. If all goes according to plan, the hotel will be completely demolished sometime in July.

Meanwhile, the empty hotel remains dangerous to those seeking warmth and shelter within, officials said. It also poses a regular threat to firefighters who battle blazes set within its scarred walls.

Riley told Patch that the city of Banning would continue taking necessary action to resolve the issue and mitigate any additional circumstances that could cause future fires.

Unsafe For Anyone: The Red-Tagged OYO Hotel Crumbles Before Banning's Eyes

The roof of the old OYO Hotel has caved in. Local drone photographer@localInformat01 has taken to Twitter, sharing regular videos of the firefights and the aftermath that follows. The walls are charred and blackened with soot from the multiple infernos.

Last week, the city of Banning congratulated local fire officials for putting out the most recent blaze. They shared pictures from the current and previous firefights on social media.

Residents responded, with many asking the same question: Why hasn't the hotel been taken down?

"This is getting ridiculous how many times this place has caught fire, around five times!" one resident commented on the city's Facebook post. "Now, why aren't the owners being held accountable for this?"

Others said the city had to battle the courts to get permission to demolish the building. That is the receivers' job, according to Schulze.

The hotel is a shell of its former self as it has languished in receivership—the legal process toward the ultimate fate of the building. An update is forthcoming, the city manager's office said.

A request for that report has not yet been answered.

"Because this is a pending legal matter, I'm not sure how much information they will be sharing," Schulze said in an email. "When the City pursues receivership, we do so with the expectation that the court-appointed receiver will secure the property and move swiftly to mitigate code violations so the property can be brought into compliance."

Patch will continue watching this issue until its ultimate resolution. Let us know your thoughts about the ultimate demise of the OYO Hotel in the comments.

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