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on September 02, 2014 at 8:20 PM, updated September 02, 2014 at 8:31 PM
View full sizeThe Super 8 motel in Foley sustained smoke damage to its second floor as a result of a fire on the balcony on Monday, Sept. 1, 2014. (Marc D. Anderson/manderson@al.com) FOLEY, Alabama -- Dozens of people staying at the Super 8 motel awoke to the smell of smoke Monday morning, and thanks to a passerby, authorities were quickly alerted to the fire.
Foley Fire Chief Joey Darby said the motorist reported the fire at 6:40 a.m. after seeing smoke rising from the motel on Ala. 59.
The unidentified woman pulled into the hotel and soon joined a few alert motel occupants with fire extinguishers to knock down the flames on the second-floor balcony right as firefighters arrived, Darby said. Other occupants went door-to-door and had the hotel completely evacuated.
The fire started in a plastic cigarette-butt receptacle and the flames started to climb the siding, according to the chief.
"It's impossible to tell whether somebody had put trash down in there, but that happens, we've been on those calls before," Darby said. "But it had been involved enough that it got in the siding that was up next to the building on the second-floor balcony and we had significant fire in the corner. That's an L-shaped building so fire had gotten in the siding and spread. Fortunately, it was Sheetrocked so it wasn't penetrating through."
The fire was deemed to be under control within 10 minutes, but Darby said crews stayed on the scene for about two hours, making sure hot spots were extinguished and ensured the fire didn't spread into the ceiling. No injuries were reported in the incident.
Since the fire was confined to one area on the second floor, Darby said the owner was cleared to resume use of the first floor later in the day Monday.
"The top was damaged enough that we closed it down," Darby said. "We did allow him yesterday to reoccupy the bottom and, fortunately, with it being the last day of the holiday weekend, it was all checkouts. He had very few reservations coming in so he could handle those with his bottom floor."
Darby said the building is the oldest working hotel in the city and was built prior to modern fire codes that require sprinklers and complete fire alarm systems.
"Anytime we have a fire like that in a facility like that we'll go through a code review," Darby said. "And as part of the repairs and permitting we'll go through and see if there's a way we can encourage them to update. I think we'll see that happen. I think the owner in this case will be motivated to do that. So what we would love to see is some modernization with codes, at least a manual fire alarm system."
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