Fire engulfs Dock on the Bay condo units

Two condo units were extensively damaged after a two-alarm fire engulfed condos July 15 on Longboat Key. However, no one was injured. 

Longboat Key Fire Rescue units were dispatched to the scene at 3:10 a.m. July 15 and arrived at 3:13 a.m., according to Longboat Key Fire Rescue spokesperson Tina Adams.

Battalion Chief Martin Szalbirak was in charge of LKFR’s response to the blaze and was one of the first to arrive at the Dock on the Bay condominium complex. 

“When we got there it was through the roof,” Szalbirak said.

The fires impacted units 8 and 9 at the complex, which includes several separate buildings at 3440 Gulf of Mexico Drive. Only one building that includes two units was damaged by the fire, Adams said, but the damage was “extensive.” Both condos were unoccupied at the time of the fire. 

Longboat Key Fire Rescue’s Fire Marshal and the Florida State Fire Marshal assessed the cause of the fire. Fire Chief Paul Dezzi said lightning was the culprit.

“Between 1 and 1:15, there were several strikes in that general area, so it was determined it was lightning,” Dezzi said. “It was determined not just by that, but by seeing how the fire actually progressed. It started above the second floor somewhere probably around the air conditioners. We think sometime after 1, lightning hit that building and it burned during that time all the way until we got called at 3 in the morning.”

There were more than 20 million lightning strikes in the state of Florida in 2025, according to Vaisala, a weather monitoring company that tracks lightning strikes worldwide. The state is commonly known as the lightning capital of the United States, although Oklahoma was first in in 2025, according to AEM's 2025 U.S. Lightning report. 

Strong winds were also noticed by Fire Rescue crews that night.

“The guys were telling me that they thought it was like a tornado here,” Dezzi said. “The wind was so loud, the lightning was so bad, they could not believe it.”

During the response, Fire Rescue units could not get fire engines onto the property because of low-hanging trees at the entrance, so engines were parked parallel to Gulf of Mexico.

“We did what’s called a combination attack. We actually brought the hoses upstairs and fought the fire from inside out,” Szalibrak said.

The overnight fire, which was reported at 3:10 a.m., was under control at 4:05 a.m. and extinguished at 4:46 a.m.

“The guys did a real good fire attack and got the blaze out real quickly,” Szalbirak said.

Frank Biondello, Jr., the marina manager who helps with site management during the offseason, said there were people in one of the units nearby, but that they were not displaced.

“Fortunately it was isolated to those two units,” Biondello said.

This article was updated with additional information on July 18. 

This article was updated with additional information Friday, July 17.