Hotel sprinkler douses fire

By Michael Burke

Tuesday, February 28, 2006 2:10 AM CST

MOUNT PLEASANT - A hotel swimming pool helped douse a small fire that started inside the Holiday Inn Express Saturday night.

The fire call went out at 10:41 p.m. from the hotel, 13339 Hospitality Court, located just east of Interstate 94 and south of Highway 20. Because that site is in a joint response zone, both Mount Pleasant and Caledonia firefighters responded.

The first fire crews arrived 9 minutes later and firefighters found their way to the second-floor room where the fire had started. By then the sprinkler system had already extinguished the flames, said Mount Pleasant Assistant Fire Chief Jon Keiser.

"They found the room sprinkler system had put (the fire) out and limited it to the room of origin," he said. "It did exactly what it was supposed to."

The hotels and motels in that area were built before city water and sewer were extended to the area, Keiser explained. So their sprinklers draw water from their swimming pools.

The source of the flames was traced to a candle that ignited the fiberglass panels of the bathroom shower, he said.

The motel customer was not in the room at the time and there were no injuries.

Special Offer: Get 5 Weeks of the Journal Times for $7!