Fire investigators are looking into claims a fire escape at the historic Shamrock Hotel was chained and padlocked when a fire broke out Tuesday morning.
Blair Parsons was staying in an upper floor room and escaped through a window. He then made it out into the roof, where he discovered the fire escape was locked.
“I went to go down the fire escape and it was padlocked and chained shut. One of the firefighters threw me a set of bolt cutters and I managed to cut the lock and get down.”
Dary Clendenning, a public relations representative for the Shamrock, says the fire escape was outside a dining room that was closed several years ago, and that other fire escapes were accessible.
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He also says the fire escape was not padlocked, but hooked with a chain to prevent it from falling.
The fire broke out just after 6:30 a.m. in a rear room on the main floor of the Ramsay hotel and quickly spread upwards.
Several of the hotel’s eleven residents were trapped and had to be rescued.
“Crews went immediately into rescue mode as it was a hotel,” says Larry Fisher, Fire Battalion Chief. “A number of people were seen pressed against the glass looking to be rescued. We set up a number of aerials and rescued at least five people by taking the glass out.”
Two people were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. Several others were treated at the scene.
The entire building suffered heavy smoke and water damage.
The live music venue is located in the 2100 block of 11th Street southeast, and was built in the early 1900s.
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