Cigarette butts observed in hotel room by EMS personnel night before fire
After Sarasota County Fire Department personnel arrived at the Baymont by Wyndham hotel on Dec. 4, a battalion chief “observed that there were no active alarms sounding from the structure and that there were no active suppression systems operating, nor were any of these systems observed to be operating at [any time] during the incident,” the department’s report says.
Smoke detectors that were hardwired into a system were present, the report points out. However, the report says that the hotel does not have an automatic fire-extinguishing system.
As The Sarasota News Leader has reported, one person died at the scene of the fire, which began early in the morning of Dec. 4. The hotel is located at 1425 S. Tamiami Trail, near downtown Sarasota.
The manager of the hotel and several bystanders informed the first firefighting crew on the scene that a victim was inside the room where smoke had been observed, the report continues. “Utilizing the thermal imaging camera [that was part of the Fire Department’s equipment],” the report adds, firefighters were able to locate the victim quickly. “The victim was found on the floor at the foot of the second bed in the room,” which was farthest from the door. The victim also was next to a wheelchair, “with the adjacent mattress actively on fire,” the report says.
A lieutenant and firefighters removed the victim from the room and placed him on the outside sidewalk, two doors down from the room where the blaze had erupted, the report adds. They began trying to resuscitate the victim, it notes, but, at 9:15 a.m., the victim was declared to be in cardiac arrest.
Under a heading in the report that says, “Human Factors Contributing to Ignition,” the box for “Physically Disabled” was checked.
In its report about the incident, the Sarasota Police Department said that the adult male victim was pronounced dead at the scene. The victim has not been identified.
“The previous evening,” the Fire Department report points out, a Fire Department rescue unit responded to the same hotel room after receiving a call about a “medical incident.” A member of that team, who was on the scene of the fire, as well, confirmed that the fire victim was the same person with whom the firefighter/medic “had interacted the prior night,” the report continues. The firefighter/medic told a battalion chief “that there had been cigarette butts and feces in and around the bed in the hotel room.”
A News Leader check of the hotel’s website found that the property advertises itself as “100% Smoke-Free.”
The information from the firefighter/medic was relayed to a State Fire Marshal Office’s detective, as well as the Sarasota Police Department, the report notes.
The State Fire Marshal’s Office is leading the investigation, the Police Department reported in its Dec. 4 news release. The Fire Department report says the cause of the incident is under investigation. Under the heading, “Factors Contributing to Ignition,” the report adds, “Undetermined.”
The fire, which was in Room 125, was out by 9:17 a.m., the report says. Firefighters checked a number of other rooms — 123, 124, 126, 127 and Rooms 223 through 227— with no signs that the fire had spread to them, the report adds.
All rooms were ventilated, the report says, to clear them of smoke.
The manager told a battalion chief that hotel guests initially reported to him about 7 a.m. that they had smelled smoke in rooms. The manager added that staff checked those rooms “and reported a smell that they did not believe was smoke,” the report continues. The manager noted that “he was not on the scene at this time.”
Then, the report says, at approximately 9 a.m., he discovered smoke coming out of the doorway to Room 125.
After he inserted his electronic key and opened the door, the manager told that battalion chief, the manager saw “the mattress on fire and a person in the bed apparently deceased,” the report adds. The manager noted that “the room was on fire and full of smoke.”
He “further stated that there were two people registered to the room and he did not know which person was which. He did state that they were brothers and that the room was booked by the daughter of one of them,” the report points out.
Additionally, the manager said that the second person had been at the hotel during the prior night and had “requested additional sheets and towels for the room,” the report continues. After that guest received the linens and put them in the room, the report indicates, the man left the hotel approximately a minute later, riding a bicycle.
The fire report put the estimated property damage at $5,000, with the lost contents having had a value of $3,500. The total hotel property has a value of $2.5 million, the report adds, with the contents put at $8,500.
Altogether, the Fire Department dispatched 13 units to the scene, with 25 persons. Five of the units were fire suppression vehicles, the report points out, with another four listed as EMS units.
The report says that the alarm about the fire went out at 9:07 a.m. The first unit arrived on the scene at 9:10 a.m., the report adds. The last unit cleared the scene at 1:07 p.m., the report says.