SCARBOROUGH (Sep 19, 2005): A room on the third floor of the Extended Stay America hotel caught fire Monday afternoon, sending three people to the hospital to get checked out after inhaling smoke.
Scarborough Fire Chief Mike Thurlow said a contractor working in the room put a tool bag on an electric stove that had been left on. The contractor then left the room.
The smoke detector in the room alerted the hotel manager, who went up to check on the third-floor room. By the time the manager got there, smoke was collecting in the hallway, sounding the building-wide fire alarm at the hotel, just off Payne Road.
The manager was able to put out the fire before firefighters arrived, Thurlow said. The fire was put out so fast the room's sprinklers did not go off, he said.
Police Officer Doug Weed suffered minor injuries while carrying a dog down the stairs. He was checked at a hospital and was released, Thurlow said.
The other two people, the hotel manager and another person, were also released from the hospital after being checked out, he said.
Weed will have to replace the pants he was wearing, which suffered a tear in one leg.
The dog, a cocker spaniel with no name on its tag, had been left alone in its room. The dog was unhurt, and was cared for by another guest.
Hotel staff refused to comment on the fire.
Paulette and Ron Flaherty of Sebring, Fla., were staying in a room on the first floor while visiting family in the area. Ron is a retired South Portland firefighter, and the couple has children in Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, South Portland and Saco.
When firefighters began cleaning up outside, Paulette was able to peek through the window into the couple's room, and said everything appeared to be undamaged.