Tucson fire crews found themselves without water while battling an arson-caused blaze on the third floor of a midtown hotel early Wednesday.
Firefighters responded to 911 calls just after 4 a.m. of smoke and flames coming from a room on the third floor of the former Four Points Sheraton Hotel on East Speedway at North Campbell Avenue near the University of Arizona, Capt. Barrett Baker, spokesman for the Tucson Fire Department, said. The hotel is being remodeled and was unoccupied.
The first engine company on the scene went to the third floor and connected hoses to a standpipe but could not get water from the system. A standpipe is a large, vertical pipe built into multistory buildings that carries water to upper levels for use by firefighters. Water for the standpipe comes from a fire hydrant on the street. The reason the standpipe failed is under investigation, Baker said.
"Acting quickly, they instead threw a rope down from the third floor to the ground and hoisted a charged hose line to the third floor to extinguish the fire," he said.
Although firefighters had other options, hoisting the hose to the third floor was the fastest way to get water to the crews.
While one crew was fighting the fire from inside the hotel, crews on the ground extinguished flames that had reached scaffolding.
It took 15 units and 44 firefighters 24 minutes to get the fire under control. The cause of the blaze is under investigation. Damage is estimated at $20,000.
Copyright 2012 - The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
