Three-Alarm Fire Forces Ohio Hotel Patrons Out into Cold

A fire at a downtown hotel caused a lot of people to spend part of Sunday evening outside. Firefighters were called to the Millennium Hotel on Fifth Street just after 8 p.m. after a fire was reported on the first floor. Heavy smoke was visible when firefighters arrived. More than 400 guests and 60 employees evacuated the hotel. Firefighters found that a grease fire in the kitchen had caused the blaze, which spread into the duct work over the kitchen. It took 90 minutes to get the duct work open enough to put out all the flames. Those evacuated from the hotel stayed in the Duke Energy Center temporarily. "I'm thinking about my clothes. I just opened my suitcase. I have to go to work in the morning. So if that's happened, I guess I'll be going like this. Client's not going to be happy," Cory Nixon Clark from St. Louis said. Some were allowed to stay in the hotel after the fire was extinguished, while others were put up in other hotels. Fire officials said the fire caused approximately $300,000 damage to the structure and its contents.