Hotel evacuated after fire

6/7/2007

INDEPENDENCE -- Fire crews are wrapping up on the scene of a fire at the Sheraton Hotel in Independence.
The fire alarm came in around 2:15 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

The fire is believed to have started in a 5th floor hallway.

The guests and staff were evacuated while fire crews from Independence and Brooklyn Heights put out the fire.

The sprinkler system was activated and caused minor water damage to a few of the rooms.

There were no reported injuries.

French tourist caught in fire at CR Park hotel

Sahim Salim

New Delhi, June 7: A Pleasure trip to Delhi turned into a nightmare for a 31-year-old French national when the Regale Inn in C R Park, where she was staying, caught fire on Wednesday night.

The woman, identified as Lemia, has been admitted to Safdarjang Hospital. Doctors said she has sustained 60 per cent burns. She had checked in on Wednesday evening and was in a second-floor room.

Another guest, Rishi Ahuja of Ludhiana, jumped out of his first-floor room to escape the fire and hurt his legs. Two children and a man were rescued from bathrooms, and required first aid. According to police, the fire , caused by a short circuit in the “wood-and-plastic temporary reception area”, broke out at 10.30 pm. Fire chief R C Sharma said the area was “illegal and had no fire clearance”.

“The hotel had been given fire clearance as they met all the 12 points of fire regulations, but they were not properly maintained,” said Sharma.

The hotel management defended itself when asked about the fire safety measures. “This hotel has a fire clearance. There is a fire extinguisher on every floor and there are three exit points, including a fire escape,” Rajendra Godhwani, the hotel owner’s brother, said. The owner, Pradeep Godhwani, is in a state of shock and undergoing treatment, said Rajendra.

But senior fire officers said no tags could be recovered from the fire extinguishers to determine when they were last refilled, repaired, or checked. Fire station officer R K Yadav said it took two hours to bring the fire under control.

A senior police official said the licence of the three-storeyed hotel had expired last year and the management has applied for renewal.

Manish Malhotra, a resident of A-8, C R Park, adjacent to Regale Inn, said he came out of his house after repeated power fluctuations. “I saw the hotel on fire and called the fire department at 10:30 p.m. but they arrived only at 11:15 p.m.,” he told Newsline. “We have registered a case of negligence against the hotel management,” said Anil Shukla, DCP, South.

The French embassy said it was looking into the matter.

RIVERDALE, Ga. - Five people were killed and another five were injured in a hotel fire Thursday morning, a fire department spokesman said.

Five people killed and another five people, including two firefighters, were taken to hospitals, said Lt. Billy Rice, a spokesman for the Clayton County Fire Department. A fire broke out at a suburban Atlanta motel Thursday, killing five family members whose bodies were found in and near a bathtub and injuring at least six other people, authorities said.

The dead included two adults and three children, Georgia Insurance and Fire Commissioner John Oxendine said. The cause of the fire was not known.

Clayton County Fire Chief Alex Cohilas said six people were hospitalized, including three firefighters and two women and a man who were staying at the Budget Inn in Riverdale.

One of the people staying at the motel suffered severe burns and was being treated at the burn unit of Grady Memorial Hospital, Oxendine said.

At least a dozen people were evacuated, Cohilas said.

Crews were searching for other victims in the partially collapsed motel, though firefighters believed they had accounted for everyone, Oxendine said.

It was not clear how many people were in the motel when the fire started, and all the records in the building were destroyed by the fire, said Lt. Billy Rice, a spokesman for the Clayton County Fire Department.

A firefighter passing by saw the flames and reported the blaze around 7:30 a.m., officials said.

Oxendine said the fire started on the second floor of the two-story motel.

Sebastian Wimbush, a friend and neighbor of the family, said they had expected to move into a new house near the motel Thursday. Wimbush said the man lived with his wife and three children, the oldest about 14, the youngest around 10.

Fire Officials Say Deadly Georgia Hotel Blaze is Arson

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A motel fire that killed five people and injured six others was caused by arson, officials said.

"Everyone is 100 percent certain that this is definitely arson," Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commission John Oxendine said Wednesday. "This was a heinous crime."

The fire, which broke out early last Thursday, destroyed the 44-unit Budget Inn in Riverdale, an Atlanta suburb.

"We are not going to let this go lightly," Riverdale Fire Chief Billy Hayes said. "We do have five victims, I don't want us to lose scope of that. We had firefighters that were injured fighting an intentionally set blaze. I take that personally."

Killed in the blaze were: Shakita Jones, 32; her children Devon Butler and Desha Butler; her fiance Fred Colston Jr., 26, and her uncle Melvin Jones, 43. Three other residents and three firefighters were injured in the fire.

The fire began behind the economy motel by a stack of mattress below the unit where the victims died, Hayes said.

Arson is a felony offense, and murder charges could also apply, Hayes said. Investigators did not name any suspects, and would not speculate on a motive.

A $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest is being offered