THE chef who started the devastating blaze at Brighton's Royal Albion Hotel said last night: "I just can't believe what I have done."

Stunned Nigel Halkyard, 20, spoke of the moment he knew the historic seafront building was about to go up in flames.

Nigel was cooking sausages and eggs in the hotel yesterday morning when fat started spitting from the frying pan.

What followed was the biggest firefighting operation seen in the town for nearly 30 years, with 160 firefighters from East and West Sussex trying to contain the inferno.

Nigel, from Lancing, said: "I turned the eggs off and the fat started spilling out - it just went straight up and the flue was glowing red hot.

"I put out the pan fire with a hose on the side of the oven, then I got the powder spray and sprayed above.

"It went quiet then I heard a roar as it shot up the flue. The alarms went off and the lights went out."

Nigel, who had worked at the hotel for 19 months, added: "As soon as that happened I knew the hotel was going to go up.

"My first priority was to get the kitchen porter out of there - by then the kitchen was filling up with smoke and I just closed the door.

"I think the power went off through the hotel. I really just can't believe I have done it.

Still visibly shaken from his ordeal and his face darkened with soot, he said: "I just can't believe what I've done - all these people are now out of work."

"I feel really guilty.

"It's really weird. We had fire training on Sunday and I had a funny feeling something might happen."

But Nigel received support from his work colleagues at the hotel.

Bar supervisor David Smith, 23 said: "Everybody thinks Nigel is a great bloke. Nobody blames him for anything. It's not his fault, it just went up."

He added: "He was a bit bemused, but you can understand that."

Hotel duty manager Marc France said part of the hotel was a "burned-out shell."

He added: "I was in a room next to the kitchen and heard a commotion and wandered through.

"Most of the guests were in bed - one or two came out with just towels wrapped around them. A lot have lost their possessions.

"There's basically nothing left but I suppose it's too early to say what the situation is.

"Anybody who has booked with us can contact us and we will take it from there."

East Sussex's chief fire officer, Des Pritchard, said the blaze was the largest Brighton had seen for 20 years.

Although all of the hotel's three interlinked buildings are believed to have suffered some damage, it is the building facing The Steine which has been worst affected.

He said: "It's been difficult to find the source of the blaze, there are ducts which run from the basement to the fifth floor and it's been travelling up and spreading out.

"It's been a very dangerous operation."

Chief Pritchard added: "The building is severely damaged, caused not only by the fire but there's severe structural damage - it's a real mess."

Firefighters were still dealing with small pockets of fire at the hotel last night.

A hotline is in the process of being set up for people who have booked events at the hotel.

Brighton and Hove Council was last night advising people living downwind of the fire to keep windows and doors closed so that they did not breathe in smoke and fumes.

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