Hampton Inn Fire: Partial Collapse, Firefighters Battled Winds

BROOKLYN, OH — Firefighters battled strong winds and needed more than three hours to control a fire that tore through a Hampton Inn hotel near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

Kevin Paul, chief of the Brooklyn Fire Department, described difficult conditions facing firefighters at a news conference Friday. The blaze, which ignited just before 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Hampton Inn in Brooklyn, Ohio, sent smoke shooting out of the fourth floor.

Employees and guests evacuated while alarms blared and firefighters knocked on hotel room doors to clear rooms. Photos posted on social media showed orange flames and thick, black smoke shooting out of the roof.

Firefighters struggled to chase the blaze amid heavy winds with gusts of up to 50 mph.

"Yesterday was a tremendously windy day," Paul said. "We had a heck of a time getting this fire under control."

Eventually, part of the roof deteriorated and collapsed. Firefighters who were inside were pulled out of the building before the collapse. No one was hurt, Paul said.

"It was pretty crazy," he said. "For the folks working inside and the folks working outside."

The cause of the blaze remains unknown. The fire is under investigation.

Chris Ellis, general manager of the Hampton Inn, said the hotel was boarded up for repairs. He hopes it can reopen sections in four to five months.