Electrical Short Sparks Fire At Midland Travelodge
By: Karl Rundgren
Updated: October 25, 2012
MIDLAND -- Part of a Midland hotel was destroyed by a fire Thursday morning.
Flames broke out the Travelodge near Interstate 20 and West Loop 250 around 8:45 AM Thursday.
Midland firefighters tell Big 2 that a maintenance worker at theTtravelodge was working in Room 149 at the hotel when he noticed that the light wouldn't come on.
The worker went to check the breaker -- but when he returned, the room was full of smoke.
No one else was in the smoke filled room, but the entire hotel had to be evacuated because of the fire.
"It was up in smoke, all of it," Travelodge occupant Christian Olivete told Big 2. "I thought one of the guys was going to jump the balcony but he didn't, because the flames were so intensifying he was trapped. But he got out. Somehow he just got out."
A downstairs room was destroyed by the fire, and the room above it was also badly damaged.
Luckily, firefighters were able to put out the fire quickly, and most of the rooms were not damaged.
No one was hurt in the fire.
Midland Fire Department investigators say an electrical short in the heating and air conditioning unit might have sparked the fire.
Flames broke out the Travelodge near Interstate 20 and West Loop 250 around 8:45 AM Thursday.
Midland firefighters tell Big 2 that a maintenance worker at theTtravelodge was working in Room 149 at the hotel when he noticed that the light wouldn't come on.
The worker went to check the breaker -- but when he returned, the room was full of smoke.
No one else was in the smoke filled room, but the entire hotel had to be evacuated because of the fire.
"It was up in smoke, all of it," Travelodge occupant Christian Olivete told Big 2. "I thought one of the guys was going to jump the balcony but he didn't, because the flames were so intensifying he was trapped. But he got out. Somehow he just got out."
A downstairs room was destroyed by the fire, and the room above it was also badly damaged.
Luckily, firefighters were able to put out the fire quickly, and most of the rooms were not damaged.
No one was hurt in the fire.
Midland Fire Department investigators say an electrical short in the heating and air conditioning unit might have sparked the fire.
