FIRE DAMAGES CAIRO MOTEL

CAIRO, Ill. -- Volunteer firefighters from three districts were called to battle a motel fire early Thursday morning.

Motorists reported the fire at the Garden Inn Motel just after 3:30 a.m. The building is north of Cairo on U.S. 51.

Firefighters from the Cairo Auxiliary, Mounds and Mound City districts battled the blaze for about three hours Thursday. It was extinguished by 6:30 a.m.

The motel offices, which also served as a bar and lounge, were destroyed in the fire. No one was injured.

"It was totally engulfed by the time we got the call," said Bob Simpson, fire chief for the Cairo Auxiliary Department. "There was no chance to save it."

The cause of the fire is still under investigation by the Illinois Fire Marshall. It is only the third fire this year in the Cairo Auxiliary district, Simpson said.