July 24, 2009
Cigarette to blame for hotel fire

TUNKHANNOCK – A cigarette caused a fire that forced the evacuation of a historic hotel Thursday morning.

Triton Hose Co. No. 1 Fire Chief Paul Shaffer said a cigarette fell into a clothes basket in a third-floor room at The Prince Hotel, East Tioga Street, at about 6 a.m. A man in the room noticed the flames and tossed the burning basket out a window, Shaffer said.

Shaffer said the man, whose name wasn’t released, suffered smoke inhalation and was treated at Tyler Memorial Hospital in Tunkhannock.

The room sustained minor smoke damage, Shaffer said. Tenants and occupants of the hotel were permitted back inside.

Shaffer said the fire was accidental.

The Prince Hotel was built in 1844, according to the hotel’s Web site.

Fire damages Cape May hotel Friday

July 24, 2009

CAPE MAY _ A five-alarm fire that originated in a commercial clothes dryer sent summer tourists scurrying out of their rooms here at The Beach Shack early Friday morning.

Nobody was hurt and the fire at the Beach Avenue hotel was extinguished in just over two hours.

Fire Chief Jerry Inderwies Jr. said Cape Resorts Group, which owns several hotel properties in town, uses the laundry facility to do all its linens.

Inderwies said an occupant in one of the hotel rooms reported the fire at 1:19 a.m. after hearing the smoke alarm in the laundry building. The fire was contained to the laundry room and never reached the hotel rooms at The Beach Shack, which is the former Coachman's Motor Inn.

The fire did fill about 13 hotel rooms with smoke and the police evacuated those occupants. They stood on The Promenade during the fire-fighting effort but were relocated to other rooms. Inderwies said the 13 rooms will be reopened sometime today.

The fire led to an "all-call alarm" that toned out all the companies south of the Cape May Canal, including Cape May, West Cape May, Cape May Point and the U.S. Coast Guard. Town Bank Volunteer Fire Co., Lower Township Rescue Squad and Cape May County Fire Marshall's Office were also called.

Inderwies said the fire spread from the dryer to some wooden shelves above it. Firefighters cut a hole in the roof to ventilate the smoke. Firefighters cleared the scene at 3:30 a.m.