Viral Video Helps Determine Calif. Hotel Fire Was Arson

WATSONVILLE, Calif. -- Police and fire officials believe the blaze that injured at least 11 people and severely damaged the Stag Hotel on West Beach Street last month was arson.

A video captured by a 7-year-old boy from the window of a nearby building was a clue, Fire Chief Mark Bisbee said.

The video shows flames exploding from the front window of the residential hotel's lobby.

"The viral video impressed us with the volume of fire for the furniture that was in the room," Bisbee said.

The flames appeared to have had help, Bisbee added.

Fire officials turned the investigation over to police after ruling out the possibility of an accidental cause.

Officials did not suggest a motive but said they believe the target was the building.

"This was not a random act," Bisbee said. "This is not a serial arsonist."

Police Lt. David McCartney said it will be at least a month before results come back from materials sent to a state Department of Justice lab in Redding.

Police have not named a suspect, and hope to interview a man who suffered severe burns and is in a medically induced coma at San Francisco Bay Area hospital. The man is in critical condition.

A second resident also remains in the hospital where he is listed as stable.

Other hotel residents suffered injuries, ranging from smoke inhalation to burns. One resident fractured a leg after he jumped from a second-story window. More than 50 people were displaced, mostly low-income men, some disabled.

The fire broke out a little before 6 p.m. April 30 in a front office, and quickly spread up a narrow hallway that runs the length of the two-story residential hotel.

Flames were concentrated at the front of the 85-year-old building on West Beach Street, but the intense heat melted light fixtures and smoke detectors from walls at the rear.

The hotel sits boarded up, but a city building official said there is little structural damage. Owner

Stag Hotel residents displaced by Monday's fire, walk over to a dinner provided by the Red Cross. (Dan Coyro/Sentinel)

Ernest Araiza said he hopes to rebuild and welcome tenants back before the end of the year.

The hotel includes 50 rooms and three apartments in two buildings. The fire occurred in the larger front building. It was built in 1927, and had no sprinklers.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service