Smoke kills 10 in hotel fire

Press, 8 March 1982, Page 8

Smoke kills 10 in hotel fire

NZPA Houston A hotel worker repeatedly turned off a general alarm system yesterday while an isolated fourth-floor fire filled a gleaming Hilton hotel with dense smoke, killing 10 people, fire officials said. . “It. would have sounded a genera] alarm, but the occupants we have been able to interview did not hear any alarm at all." said Deputy Fire Chief L. H. Mikeska. He said the worker, who was not identified, apparently was not familiar with the’ alarm system and “kept cutting it off." . ’ ? The officials said the fire was extinguished before spreading, but smoke rose to the top of the 305-room structure. Among the victims was a family of four from Louisiana who were in Houston for a wedding; two of the dead were brothers, aged two and four. Eleven other-- people .were, injured., t,wo crijidally.

Authorities said they were, "looking at the possibility*; that a cigarette may have', caused the fire at the 13storey hotel, Many guests complained’’ that nothing happened when they pulled manually operated fire alarms in the hallways. Others said the only alarms they heard were the sirens of fire engines arriving. The hotel manager. Eri Huemer. said the hotel’s firealarm system had passed an inspection only three days before the fire. Each room also was equipped with a smoke detector checked daily by a maid, he added. Mr Mikeska said, he thought the hotel employee took the alarm seriously, but “he hadn't been briefed on it and I don’t think he was aware he was cutting off the entire system." As a result, he reset the alarm several times. .Mr Mjkeska said,