Dryer fire forces Comfort Inn evacuation

Guests at the Comfort Inn in Jasper were evacuated early Saturday morning after a dryer fire filled the building with smoke.

Firefighters responded to a fire alarm at the hotel at 1970 Hospitality Drive around 3:10 a.m. Jasper Fire Chief Kenny Hochgesang said dispatch radioed him to let him know heavy smoke was reported in the building as they headed there.

When he arrived, guests were already outside. Of the hotel’s 78 rooms, 67 were occupied, Hochgesang said.

As firefighters arrived, a hotel employee informed them the laundry room was on fire. After entering the heavily smoke-filled hotel lobby, crews found a dryer on fire. According to Hochgesang, a hotel employee had attempted to put it out with a large ABC dry-chemical extinguisher but couldn’t.

Firefighters put the fire out quickly because it stayed inside the dryer, Hochgesang said. Crews charged a hose line but never took it into the building.

The smoke was the bigger problem. The laundry room door had been left open, Hochgesang said, so smoke and extinguisher powder spread into the corridors. A laundry chute that runs from the laundry room to the third floor was also propped open. It carried smoke upward, filling the entire hotel hallways with smoke.

“We couldn’t see like 10 feet in front of us walking through that building,” Hochgesang said.

First-floor corridors were completely filled, he said. The second floor had heavy smoke. The third had a medium amount.

Chief Hochgesang said if the doors to the chute and the laundry room had been closed, the smoke likely wouldn’t have pervaded the hotel.

Before letting anyone back in, firefighters checked every room. None had smoke or powder inside, because the room doors had stayed closed, Hochgesang said.

To help clear out the smoke, crews set up 10 or 11 heavy-duty ventilation fans. Guests went back in floor by floor, starting about an hour and 15 minutes after the call.

The employee who fought the fire told firefighters she was fine. No injuries were reported.

The dryer was destroyed. The laundry inside burned to nothing, Hochgesang said. Beyond the dryer, the main cost will be cleaning up the extinguisher powder that spread through the halls. One fire truck parked outside was coated in it as crews pushed the smoke out.

Jasper Police, the Dubois County Sheriff’s Office and Indiana State Police assisted. Hochgesang said officers helped check the second and third floors to make sure everyone was out.=