MIAMI BEACH -- Fire broke out at a well-known mansion on Miami Beach at about 8:30 a.m. Friday along North Bay Road and 46th Street.

The castle-style home, located at 4462 North Bay Road, was built by Capt. Michael Burke, the founder of Windjammer Barefoot Cruises.

On Saturday, firefighters were still on scene keeping an eye out for hot spots.

The house, which was currently on the market for $6.9 million, boasted iron gates, gargoyles, turrets, towers, parapets, a draw bridge and a 65,000-gallon salt water moat filled with sand sharks, Local 10's Glenna Milberg reported.

When firefighters arrived Friday morning, the structure was fully engulfed in flames. Miami Beach Fire Rescue sent its entire battalion and called for help from Miami and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. Firefighters found that what once had been 1920s concrete construction was redone in wood.

"This house is mostly wood framing with plywood on top of that framing and additional veneers on top of that. So all of that stuff is flammable, it all hides fire," said Miami Beach Assistant Fire Chief Javier Otero. "More than a house fire, it's more like a boat fire."

"I went up to the seventh floor and I saw smoke billowing. I saw fire also and helicopters started coming," said witness Shlomo Zweig.

Otero said the house "has a lot of places where a fire can hide."

"It's something that requires a lot of cutting, a lot of taking your fire streams through different angles, crawling through places, cutting things out so you can really get to the fire. So it’s not just simple, you can just put water on the fire and put it out," Otero said.

Firefighters, assisted by water boats, fought the blaze from the ground and from the water.

Although flames came close to nearby homes, no other home in the area was damaged. Heavy smoke, however, continued to blanket the area for hours.

"It’s a very big fire. It spread very quickly. There was never a danger to houses on either side," Otero said.

The castle-style home, which was built in 1925, had 10 bedrooms, 7½ bathrooms and more than 11,000 square feet of living area.

In 1997, a man accused of posing as a wedding planner was arrested after he claimed to own the home and accepted two checks worth a total of $5,000 from a couple so they could be married there.

Recently, the home was often rented out for events but was otherwise empty, making it a source of contention for code enforcement officers and the neighbors.

"I call it the devil house and I’m very happy to see it goes up in flames. Obviously, no one was living there so nobody's hurt. So I’m very happy to see it go bye-bye," said neighbor Christian deBerdouare.

"We know from prior inspections and walk-throughs that there wasn't anyone in it. That doesn’t mean someone didn’t move in last night. We always treat every structure as though there is someone living in it," Otero said.

The property taxes on the home are paid. Last year, the taxes on the property cost $157,000.

The new owners bought the castle two years ago as the market was turning. They pulled a demolition permit that has since expired. Code violations have racked up about $40,000 in liens. Real estate agents showing the home for sale saw why.

"A lot of vandalism inside -- it looks like kids have gone in there and do what they do," said real estate agent Nelson Gonzalez.

Investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire and where on the property it began.

But they said the home is still too hot for them to enter.