Discarded Cigarette Damages Best Western Hotel

Around 2:45 pm on Sunday (September 16, 2012) afternoon firefighters were called to a fire at the Best Western Hotel located at 3933 Pacific Avenue in Forest Grove.  Dark smoke was billowing into the sky and was visible from blocks away as firefighters arrived on scene and found the fire burning on both floors of an exterior wall of the two story hotel.  Firefighters quickly went to work, and from the outside they were able to rapidly extinguish the bulk of the actively burning fire with their hose streams.  Incident commanders then ordered additional crews into the building to verify that the all guests and staff of the hotel had safely escaped, and that the fire had not spread.  Forest Grove Fire & Rescue deployed their ladder truck which began removing the burnt siding from the building while a crew from Hillsboro Fire & Rescue checked in the attic.  Firefighters found that the fire had indeed spread to the attic, charring a number of truss and roof components there, but that the building's fire sprinkler system had activated in the attic with eight sprinkler heads flowing enough water to stop the spread of fire in the attic at that point.

This was the scene that presented itself to firefighters as they arrived at the Best Western Hotel on Sunday

Fire Investigators determined that the fire, that caused at least $75,000 in damages to the building and its contents, was a result of a discarded cigarette.  Guests and hotel staff reported smelling smoke earlier in the day at which point they checked the hallways and a number of rooms but found nothing out of the ordinary.  One of the hotel housekeepers was outside of the building when she noticed the smoke and she quickly went back into the hotel to help evacuate the dozen or so guests.  Another house keeper ran with a fire extinguisher but the fire was already burning inside the wall space and she was unable to extinguish it at that time.  The area where the fire originated is a bark dust landscaped area surrounding a concrete patio that is the designated smoking area for the hotel.  Fire investigators found bark dust burned deeply underground which along with the reports of a smoky smell from earlier in the day, indicates that a slow burning fire had been going on for quite some time.  The hotel suffered extensive damage from the smoke and firefighting water and is not able to be occupied at this time.  It will likely be quite a few days before the hotel will be fully up and running again, hotel staff are working on finding another hotel in the area for guests at this time.

Volunteers from FGF&R Truck 4 remove siding from the building to verify that the fire has not spread

  

This is just one of many fires in bark dust that has occurred across Washington County over the week.  As the weather continues to remain warm and dry the bark dust used for landscape in our community is tinder dry and doesn't take much to ignite and turn into a smoldering fire that can easily creep into hedges, fences, and as in this case structures.  Please, if you choose to smoke make sure that you discard your cigarettes in a safe area with a non combustible container.  Also, don't hesitate to call 9-1-1 if you smell smoke.  Firefighters have special tools and thermal imaging heat detecting cameras that they can use to help make sure that a potentially dangerous situation is not occurring.