Automatic alarm systems at the luxury hotel alerted fire personnel around 5:30 a.m. to a structure fire spreading on the first floor. Six fire crews responded to the scene and evacuated about 30 guests and hotel employees from the premises.
The first responders to the fire found that the automatic sprinkler system at the hotel had contained most of the blaze.
The exact cause of the fire remains under investigation. Battalion Chief Clayton Jolley said the fire was likely triggered by the water heater in the laundry room and then spread to other combustibles such as linens and baskets lying around the area.
Jolly estimated the cost of the damage from the blaze to be around $15,000, primarily due to water damage caused by the hotel’s sprinkler system.
Guests were allowed to return to their rooms by 6:30 a.m.
In 1996, the unfinished structure of the Beach House hotel was destroyed in a suspicious fire that started in the building just days before the sprinkler system was installed. The fire completely wrecked the structure, causing $2.5 million in damages.
Investigators treated the fire as an arson case, which officially remains open to this day, although no suspect has ever been identified.
