PEORIA - A massive fire at a Peoria hotel Tuesday heavily damaged the building's roof and third floor and displaced dozens of guests, but no one was injured.
The fire, which started just before 6 p.m., at the Courtyard Inn by Marriott, 1928 W. War Memorial Drive, happened about the same time as tornado, thunderstorm and flash flood warnings swept through the Peoria area.
Lightning from the storm could have struck the hotel, triggering the fire, Peoria Fire Chief Roy Modglin said.
"Lightning's a possibility, but it's way too early to speculate," Modglin said.
Fire consumed the motel's south roof and third-level guest rooms. But hotel guests were able to escape, and no injuries were reported, Modglin said.
Hotel occupant Bill Schlobohm of Denver, in town for business, said he just had returned from work when a desk clerk alerted him to the fire.
"The desk clerk said we were hit by lighting and there was no phone service," Schlobohm said.
He was allowed to go to his third-floor room, where he said the phone was working, and he turned on his television and computer.
He answered a bang on his door, which was from one of the desk clerks he had just seen in the lobby, and was told to evacuate.
"They (the desk clerks) said they pulled on the fire alarm and it didn't go off," Schlobohm said. "Neither did the sprinkler system."
Schlobohm helped the desk clerks pound on doors on the second floor but never saw any flames or smoke.
"I saw smoke (seeping from the roof) when I came out and the fire department was here hooking up hoses," he said. "Then all of a sudden I saw flames shooting out of the roof."
Heat radiating from the blaze could be felt about 300 yards from the hotel, and Peoria police stopped anyone from getting any closer.
Dozens of evacuated guests and onlookers from two nearby motels stood watching the fire.
Ed Prinsloo of South Carolina was one unlucky guest of the motel. In town for business, he was trying to eat dinner at Jonah's in East Peoria when he spied the storm.
"I ordered a beer then went to the bathroom," he said. "I heard a noise, then the wind blew the bathroom door open as I was washing my hands."
When he went out to investigate, Prinsloo was ushered by restaurant staff to the basement.
He was later allowed to fetch his keys from his table and saw several "windows that overlooked the Illinois River were blown out and some were cracked."
When Prinsloo tried to get back to his room at the Courtyard, police told him that his motel was on fire.
"It's been quite a night," Prinsloo said.
Firefighters attacked the blaze from the ground and from above but had many obstacles in their way. Getting enough manpower to fight the fire was one, Modglin said.
"It happened at the height of the storm," he said. "We had engine companies going out all over town checking lightning strikes
