Squirrel causes fire at Holiday Inn Express

A squirrel is apparently to blame for an electrical fault that led to a small fire at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites in Rolla on Thursday morning.

There were no injuries, but an estimated 100 people in the hotel had to be evacuated for less than half of an hour, according to Lori O’Neal, hotel general manager.

By the time the City of Rolla Fire and Rescue arrived at the scene, hotel maintenance staff and management had extinguished the fire in the hotel’s pool maintenance room. Firefighters found light smoke in the room.

According to fire officials, an investigation determined that the cause of the electrical fault was due to a squirrel entering a transformer and shorting the system.

Because of this fault, a voltage drop was experienced in the pool maintenance room which caused two pool water pumps to catch fire.

Ron Smith, training officer with Rolla Fire and Rescue, said when there was a fault, the system shut off, which it was designed to do. Smith said when the three-phase line came back on, one of the fuses had blown and caused the pumps to malfunction and catch fire.

O’Neal called the damage minimal. “We might have to replace one pump,” she said. “There was no structural damage.” The fire was contained to the pumps.

Smith said power to the pump was turned off before management and maintenance staff extinguished the fire.

“Due to the quick reaction of the maintenance crew and management team, the fire’s damage and risk to the guests were minimal,” Rolla Fire Chief Robert Williams stated in a press release.

O’Neal noted that her staff followed the hotel’s fire plans to a tee and said the guests thanked the staff for being so diligent. “We were near full capacity,” O’Neal said. All guests were evacuated before Rolla firefighters arrived.

Eight firefighters and two chief officers responded with two aerial pumps to the incident around 8:46 a.m. The hotel is located in the 1600 block of Outer Wire Road.

The City of Rolla Fire and Rescue thanked Rolla Municipal Utilities for their quick response and the Rolla Police Department for assisting in the evacuation.