ONTARIO – An Ontario motel had a working alarm system that complied with Oregon code when a fire erupted inside a room on Thursday, Sept. 12.
Ontario Fire & Rescue crews were called to Motel 6 at 275 Northeast 12th Street at 7:49 a.m. for a fire in a second-floor room on the second floor of the building.
When firefighters arrived, the room engulfed and the blaze was moving into the attic.
Eventually 16 firefighters from Ontario and Fruitland responded to the blaze, extinguishing it in about 45 minutes.
A woman in her 30s was seriously burned in the fire and transported by Life Flight to an area hospital. A update on the woman’s condition and her name was not immediately available.
The fire is still under investigation. Benson did not give an estimate of total damage to the facility.
Rumors that the motel did not have a working fire alarm system and questions from guests at the motel spread not long after the fire was extinguished, according to Clint Benson, Ontario fire chief.
That prompted him to release a statement on Monday, Sept. 16, to report the agency’s findings.
“Motel 6 had an operating manual fire alarm system at the time of the fire which consisted of a fire alarm control panel connected to manual fire alarm boxes (pull stations) located throughout the facility and audible bells that sound when the fire alarm system is activated,” the statement said.
In an interview, Benson said the fire alarm system conformed to Oregon building codes when the motel was constructed in 1978.
“The way Oregon code works is you are held to the standard to when it was built,” he said.
When firefighters arrived at the scene, the “audible fire alarm had not been activated, which means no one had pulled a manual fire alarm box,” he said.
Benson said the fire alarm system was tested in May by an outside firm.
Benson said every room in the motel was equipped with a smoke detector.
He said in the wake of the blaze the motel will need to get a new fire alarm system.
“The existing fire alarm system was fried in the fire. The circuitry was burned up,” he said.
Benson said the fire could have burned the entire motel.
“Especially with the fire getting into a common attic like that,” he said.
The Ontario Police Department helped people evacuate the building and Motel 6 employees went door to door to alert those unaware of the blaze.
“I was pleased with how it worked out,” said Benson.
News tip? Contact reporter Pat Caldwell at [email protected]
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