A large overnight fire at the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach resort in the Dominican coastal town of Bayahibe has triggered a coordinated regional emergency response, forcing the full evacuation of 1,690 registered hotel guests on Friday. The blaze broke out in the early hours of the morning, prompting immediate activation of national disaster response frameworks to contain the spread and protect visitor safety.
The country’s Emergency Operations Center (COE) confirmed it is leading the response effort in close coordination with regional fire brigades and member agencies of the National Prevention, Mitigation, and Response System (SNPMR). More than five hours after the fire was first reported, firefighting crews were still working to eliminate persistent hotspots concentrated in two key areas of the resort: the on-site storage warehouse and the employee access corridor. While open flames at the hotel’s main entrance have been fully contained, suppression operations continue to eliminate remaining embers and block any potential reignition or spread to adjacent structures.
Firefighting teams from across the eastern Dominican Republic—including units from La Romana, San Pedro de Macorís, Higüey and Verón-Punta Cana—have pooled resources and personnel to tackle the blaze. The operation has also received critical support from private and public entities, with Central Romana Corporation and Punta Cana International Airport contributing specialized firefighting equipment and additional resources to boost response capacity.
As a proactive safety precaution, all guests from the fire-impacted Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach were evacuated promptly and relocated to alternative accommodations across the region. Many guests were transferred to the adjacent Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace, another property owned by the same hotel chain, while others were moved to independent hotels in Bayahibe and beach resorts in Miches, including the Catalonia and Sunscape properties. Response officials confirmed that the entire relocation process was executed in line with pre-approved contingency plans, designed to minimize disruption to visitor trips while prioritizing their safety.
Local tourism authorities and industry groups quickly activated their own emergency protocols to support the response. The Dominican Ministry of Tourism, the La Romana-Bayahibe Tourism Cluster, and area hotels all mobilized to assist displaced guests and ensure that tourism operations across the broader Bayahibe destination remain uninterrupted.
Officials have confirmed that Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace, the adjacent sister property, suffered no damage from the fire. As a temporary safety measure, the hotel’s existing guests were moved to open, well-ventilated safe areas during peak fire activity, but the property has since resumed normal operations and is now hosting many of the evacuated guests from the fire-damaged beach resort.
In a public statement, authorities stressed that all tourism activities across Bayahibe and its surrounding regions continue to operate safely with no disruptions beyond the impacted resort. The root cause of the fire is still undetermined, with a formal investigation pending the completion of suppression operations. A specialized technical commission will conduct a full on-site assessment once the area is deemed safe to identify the origin and contributing factors of the incident.