Incident number: 2019-7380
Type of emergency: Structure Fire
Incident date: December 10, 2019
Alarm time: 9:35 p.m.
Address/location: 165 Capital Ave SW
Occupied? No; the hotel closed Dec. 10, for at least 90 days, as part of an agreement with the City of Battle Creek
Probable cause (if known): Unknown
Structure type: Muti-room two-story hotel
Construction type: Wood frame
Estimated property damage:
Estimated contents damage:
Location/extent of damage: North and east wings, extensive
Hazardous materials involved: None known
Specialized rescues: Rapid Intervention of two firefighters
Injuries: None
Fatalities: None
Other information: Battle Creek Fire Department responded to a reported possible structure fire at 165 Capital Ave. SW, the Econo Lodge. When crews arrived they found smoke coming out of some vents in the roof. Rescue 3 and Squad 2 made entry through the main lobby door and encountered smoke in the hallway. The fire was hard to locate as rooms were boarded up, and the fire traveled through the void spaces in the walls, into the attic.
When crews made a hole into a second-floor room, into the attic space for extinguishment, the fire grew rapidly. We were in the process of evacuating the building and going to a defensive fire attack from the outside with Engine 2 and Truck 6 aerial master streams. When a fire crew ran low on air due to the distance they had to travel from lobby to fire area and called for a “Mayday” response. Engine 5 was the Rapid Intervention Crew and T-6 Captain was pulled from Incident Safety Officer to make entry to rescue the crew. The RIC along with S-2, which was operating inside, were able to help safely extricate the crew from the fire with no injuries.
The fire took several hours to bring under control due to the size, nature of the fire, and extreme cold weather conditions. Six more personnel were called using our emergency call-back procedures. BCFD was assisted by BC Police Department for crowd and traffic control, LifeCare Ambulance on standby in case of injuries, Department of Public Works for road salting and barricades, American Red Cross brought crews food, water and coffee. BCFD responded with 3 Engines, 2 Aerials, 2 Squads, 2 Command vehicles and additional engine and staff vehicle for the called back firefighters, for a total of 28 firefighters and 2 command officers. Fire Marshal Quincy Jones is on scene investigating.
We will give more details of cause and damage estimate as they become available.