February 1, 2007 -- Waterloo
Fires Force Hotel Evacuation



An eastern Iowa hotel is evacuated after two early morning fires. Guests at the Holiday Inn Express on La Porte Road in Waterloo were temporarily forced out of their rooms after a fan caught fire.

A guest on the second floor noticed smoke coming from a bathroom fan around 4:30 this morning. The fire was quickly put out with an extinguisher. Then just after 6:00, the fan caught fire again and a guest called 911. Everyone staying at the hotel had to wait in the lobby while firefigters put out the blaze, which spread to the attic crawl space.

Greg Broling, a hotel guest says: "Around 6:15, there was a bang on the door. They told everyone to get out...that there was a fire again. I think the important thing was the alarm didn't go off the second time. Anybody who went back to sleep wouldn't have woken up without a knock at the door."

Guests were able to return to their rooms around 7:30 A.M. A few upstairs rooms were damaged. No one was injured in the blaze.

Green Bay
Sprinkler Stops Downtown Hotel Fire

Feb 3, 2007 02:13 AM

A fire at St. Brendan's Inn on South Washington Street triggered the fire sprinkler system just after 7 o'clock. Firefighters were on the scene a few minutes later, and found the fire had been contained.

Firefighters say the fire was caused by a portable radio placed too close to a commercial toaster.

There was no estimate on the cost of the damage caused by the fire.

"This is an excellent example of the value of automatic fire sprinkler systems," Fire Chief Jeff Stauber said. "It's much easier and safer for our firefighters to assist in the cleanup than to contain and extinguish an uncontrolled fire

10 tourists die in hotel fire
03/02/2007 23:10 - (SA)

Santiago - A fire swept through a small hotel in Chile's southernmost city Punta Arenas early on Saturday leaving 10 foreign tourists dead, a fire department commander said.

Commander Rene Mansilla said four of the victims were from Argentina, four from Germany and two from Holland.

Mansilla said the identities of the victims were not immediately available because the fire destroyed most of their documents and the hotel registration book.

"Police are working on that but clarifying the situation may still take a couple of days," he added.

He said the nationalities of the victims were established because an employee of the Blue House hotel recalled assigning them the rooms.

The cause of the fire was being investigated. Mansilla said the hotel's rooms did not have fire detectors.

Most of the victims apparently died of suffocation, he said.

Twenty-one tourists were at the hotel when the fire broke out.

Punta Arenas, located on the Strait of Magellan, is a popular jumping off point for Patagonia-region attractions, most notably the world-renowned Torres del Paine National Park.

Canadians abroad: Canadian killed in Chile hotel fire

A Canadian woman is among 10 tourists killed by a fire that destroyed a small hotel in Punta Arenas, Chile’s southernmost city, authorities said yesterday. Investigators were still probing the cause of the fire, which swept through the hotel before dawn on Saturday. They said the hotel lacked smoke detectors and other safety features. The authorities released the identities of eight of the 10 tourists. They did not name the two other tourists who died in the fire, but said they were from Canada and Australia. Punta Arenas is a popular jumping off point for Patagonia- region attractions, most notably the world- renowned Torres del Paine National Park.