Hundreds of guests and staff were temporarily evacuated

Hundreds of guests and staff were temporarily evacuated from Burke Mountain Hotel Saturday evening after a fire started in a guest room. The fire drew several area fire departments to the 116-room hotel, which was almost fully occupied at the time. The fire was caused by a set of heated socks with a lithium battery that had been plugged in for charging. The fire was quickly extinguished and there was only minimal physical damage within the one room, however smoke had spread throughout the upper two floors of guest rooms in the hotel’s west wing. East Burke and West Burke Fire Departments were initially dispatched to the hotel for a fire alarm activation at 7:11 p.m., followed by reports of smoke on the fifth floor. East Burke Fire Chief Josh Willey requested assistance from additional fire departments. The source of the fire was located and extinguished within 20 minutes, but it took about 2 hours for the firefighters to ventilate the building and check each room for carbon monoxide.