Comfort Inn closed for few days after fire on Saturday

 

The Comfort Inn in Oak Ridge will be closed for a few days for renovations after a fire on the fourth floor of the five-story hotel early Saturday, officials said.

The fire was reported at 5:15 a.m. Saturday in an air-conditioning unit in a window area at the end of the hallway on the fourth floor.

The 112-room hotel was more than 90 percent occupied with rowers from Oak Ridge Marina and off-road-vehicle riders from Windrock Park north of Oliver Springs, authorities said.

The Oak Ridge Fire Department said the hotel’s sprinkler system turned on automatically and helped keep the fire under control, which likely saved lives and property.

“There’s no doubt the sprinkler system helped keep the fire from getting any larger,” Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley said.

The Fire Department said there was thick, dense black smoke on the fourth floor, and firefighters literally ran into some disoriented people on the fourth floor and helped them evacuate down a stairwell.

The hotel, which is at the intersection of South Illinois Avenue and Rutgers Avenue, was evacuated, and Kerley said the Comfort Inn manager did a great job determining who was missing and needed to be found. Three people were determined to be missing, one each on the second, fourth, and fifth floor, Kerley said, and firefighters went to get them. They included the bus driver of the Louisville rowing team, who was asleep at the time.

Firefighters had to rescue a few people that didn’t hear the fire alarm. One man who was disoriented by the black smoke was evaluated for smoke inhalation but did not want to go to the hospital, Kerley said.

 

The Oak Ridge Fire Department said the hotel will be closed until the fire alarm and fire sprinkler systems can be restored and inspected by the fire marshal and electric inspector. The hotel will have to re-install the window in the fourth-floor hall, repair the wall around the air-conditioning unit, and strip, wash, and clean beds, Kerley said.

Firefighters said the fire appeared to have started with an electrical issue around the air-conditioning unit, although it wasn’t clear if it was the outlet itself or wiring around it or something else.

They said the fire was under control in less than 20 minutes, and Kerley said it was under control in about six to eight minutes.

Kerley said there was smoke in all rooms on the fourth floor and also on the fifth, and it took firefighters a while to remove the smoke and carbon monoxide so that people staying at the hotel could go back to their rooms and remove their personal items.

Comfort Inn did a good job of taking care of those staying at the hotel and finding them another place to stay, Kerley said.

He said firefighters brought a 1.5-inch line up to the fourth floor to fight the fire. They connected it to a water pipe known as a stand pipe in the stairway of the third floor and brought it up to the fourth.

“They did a great job,” Kerley said of the firefighters.

Saturday evening, a representative at Comfort Inn said the hotel is closed for renovations through Tuesday.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

 

 

 

 

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