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player ready...Careless smoking was the apparent cause of an extra alarm fire that forced the evacuation of a Prospect Heights hotel early Sunday, fire officials said.
Several guests at the Forest Lodge, 1246 S. River Rd., smashed out their windows and climbed down Fire Department ladders to safety after the fire started at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, said Wheeling Fire Lt. Mike Burns.
Fire department paramedics treated seven people for smoke inhalation, but no one was hospitalized, Burns said.
Fire damage was contained to one corner room in a wing of the 63-room hotel, which comprises two free-standing buildings, Burns said, but there was smoke and water damage to much of the two-story wing. He estimated the fire caused $50,000 in damage.
The fire began in a room where the occupants acknowledged that they had been smoking in bed, Burns said.
“They noticed smoke and flames coming from under the bed and they tried to put the fire out themselves,” Burns said. “When they realized they couldn’t, they just fled and left the door open. The fire spread into the hallway, and the smoke rose to the second floor.”
Thirty-five firefighters from eight towns, including Prospect Heights, Glenview, Northbrook and Mt. Prospect, assisted Wheeling firefighters.
The cold weather caused much of the fire equipment to freeze, Burns said. But the firefighters managed to have the blaze under control within 30 minutes.