Fire destroys PA hotel
Photo by Charlie Rupp for the Valley News Dispatch
Excerpts from the Valley News Dispatch:
No guests or employees were said to have been injured in the fire reported shortly before 2:30 p.m. at the Comfort Inn Kittanning at 13 Hilltop Plaza.
The roof of the three-floor hotel collapsed about an hour after the fire was reported. By the time the fire was out, most of the roof was gone.
Firefighters issued a general alarm calling for all available help, and firefighters from at least 10 departments were at the scene, said Gary Karns, spokesman for Armstrong County Emergency Management.
East Franklin Fire Chief Mark Feeney said the fire was not suspicious.
The cause was not known, but he said it appeared to have started between the ceiling of the third floor and the roof near an elevator shaft.
Getting the fire under control was made complicated by burning insulation. The building did not have a sprinkler system, Feeney said.
Of the injured firefighters, one suffered a cut to his head after slipping off an icy truck ladder. A second experienced chest pain, while the third was under a ceiling that collapsed, Feeney said.
