Twenty to 30 residents of the Downtown Prescott Inn were evacuated mid-day Wednesday, Dec. 23, when fire broke out in one of the rooms. Prescott Fire Battalion Chief Eric Kriwer said the department got the call of fire in a third-floor room in the North Cortez Street hotel (formerly the Head Hotel, built in 1904) just before noon Wednesday.
A fire-sprinkler system in the room doused the fire fairly quickly, Kriwer said, but not before several dozen residents were evacuated from the three-story hotel. The operation required the closure of North Cortez Street, and at about 1:30 p.m., Kriwer said the street closure would likely continue for at least another hour.
Police Chief Jerald Monahan said a number of police officers were on hand to handle the traffic control during the fire operation. “We’re here to support the Fire Department,” he said.
No one was injured in the fire, although two medicals calls occurred at the building at about the same time. Kriwer explained that a fire crew was already on site at the hotel when the department got word of the fire. Then, another medical call occurred in the midst of the fire, although Kriwer did not know the nature of that call.
Although the fire was contained to one room, Kriwer said all of the residents were evacuated. In the aftermath, firefighters were working to secure the building, and get the electricity turned back on. “We haven’t got the power secured yet,” Kriwer explained.
A total of more than 30 fire, police, and Lifeline Ambulance personnel responded to the fire, Kriwer said. A (TIP) Trauma Intervention Program volunteer was also on hand, and Kriwer said, “We will probably have a couple of displaced residents.”
Meanwhile, a group of residents clustered on the sidewalk – many of them bundled with blankets, and wearing flip-flops – waiting to be allowed back into their rooms.
“We’re frozen; we didn’t have time to get socks,” hotel resident Josie Valdez said, waiting on a sidewalk bench. Because her room is on the second floor, Valdez said she didn’t see any sign of the fire when she heard the call to evacuate.
Hotel resident Krista Schmidt, a writer, said she had time to grab only her laptop containing her writing, and a blanket, before leaving her room.
Daiton Rutkowski, who was working in the street-level Keystone Antiques shop Wednesday afternoon, said he had turned 10 to 15 shoppers away, because the Fire Department was not allowing people into the building until the power was restored.
Kriwer said the cause of the fire was still under investigation Wednesday afternoon.
