DOWNTOWN FIRE SPARKS SCARE: NO ONE INJURED IN BLAZE; FIRE TEASES OLD IDAN-HA HOTEL FOR THIRD TIME

No one was injured Tuesday during a two-alarm fire at an apartment building near Broadway and Fountain streets in Cape Girardeau.

The fire started in a third-floor apartment in the southeastern end of the building and was contained in that area. The cause of the fire is undetermined but an investigation by the Cape Girardeau Fire Department is under way.

The three-story building at 115 N. Fountain was once part of the Idan-Ha Hotel. Two other buildings that were part of the hotel were separately destroyed by fire in 1968 and 1989.

Damage Tuesday was limited to a couple of apartments and a portion of the hallway. However, all 40 to 50 residents of the buildings likely will be displaced, at least temporarily.

The Salvation Army is providing assistance to the those displaced by the fire.

Firefighters received the call at 12:41 p.m. and the first unit arrived at 12:43. Fire Chief Robert Ridgeway said the second alarm was quickly sounded after taking into account the hot weather and determining it was "a pretty good fire."

Firefighters initially were concerned by reports of three children trapped near the blaze. However, sweeps of the building revealed nothing.

"Fortunately they were all out," said Ridgeway.

One resident, Lee Spencer, was stuck on the third floor on the northern end of the building but was never in danger.

"Once I realized there was smoke in my apartment I opened the door to the hallway where usually you see lights," Spencer said. "When I opened the door all I could see was smoke.

"I went back into the bedroom and tried the phone but it was dead. When I heard everybody screaming, I realized I had a problem."

Spencer stepped out onto his balcony and called for help. He was reassured of his safety by firefighters, who were busy searching areas under more immediate threat. About 15 minutes later, a ladder was raised for Spencer to climb down. He was shaken by the incident but uninjured.

"The smoke got to me, but I'm all right," Spencer said.

Deeann Hunter, who lives across the hall from the apartment where the fire originated, was at work at the time the fire began, but her 8- and 13-year-old sons were at home.

Hunter's eldest son, Michael Mendoza, was the person who first noticed the fire and alerted authorities.

"He heard the detector go off and saw the smoke under the door when he felt the door, and it was hot," Hunter said. "When he realized the apartment was burning he took off to get his brother and the cat out of there and on the way he was banging on doors telling everybody there was a fire."

Mendoza then called 911, as well as his mother.

It took little time for firefighters to douse the blaze once they arrived. The construction of the building kept the fire from spreading.

"With these old masonry structures, as a firefighter you take a beating because they hold the heat," Ridgeway said. "But they also contain the fire."

Despite the heat, no firefighters were overcome during Tuesday's blaze. A relief station was set up at Christ Episcopal Church, directly behind the site of the fire.

"The guys did an exceptional job and hustled really well," Ridgeway said.

The building, constructed in 1907, was an addition to the Idan-Ha Hotel. The Idan-Ha, built in 1903, burned down June 29, 1968. Another five-story addition to the hotel, built in 1922, was gutted by fire July 7, 1989, and subsequently demolished.