Seventy Orange County firefighters battled a two-alarm roof fire on Thursday morning.
A tar pot on the roof of a building under construction caught fire, WESH 2 News reported.
Firefighters said they had difficulty getting water to the roof because the fire hydrants near the site were dry. Fire officials said Williams Construction, an Orlando-based company, was supposed to activate permits to turn the hydrants on two weeks ago, but the company did not do so. On-site supervisors refused to comment.
"In this particular case, you had hydrants that were looking like they were operational and ready to go, and they were not even connected to the waterline," said battalion Chief Kevin Wiltz.
The state fire marshal will investigate why those hydrants weren't on. The construction company may face sanctions from the county.
The fire tore through about ¼ of the roof of the 150,000 square foot building. The building is still unoccupied.
About 15 roofers jumped from the second-story building when the fire broke out, but no one was injured.
The building is in south Orange County, near the Florida Mall. It's right next to the Home Depot on Southland Boulevard.
The fire broke out at 9:52 a.m. and was contained at about 10:38 a.m.
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