FIRE DAMAGES PORTION OF FORMER LUTESVILLE RAILROAD HOTEL

MARBLE HILL -- A portion of the old railroad hotel in former Lutesville was damaged by fire early Thursday. No one was injured.

Marble Hill Fire Chief Jim Bollinger said all of the occupants had fled the building, now known as the Rainbow Hotel, by the time firefighters arrived.

Bollinger said the fire started from a blow torch being used to thaw out a frozen water line in a first floor outside closet at the back of building where the owner of the building lives.

The chief said the fire spread quickly up the inside back wall to the second floor. Fire damage was confined to the back of the building, but there was some smoke damage to other parts of the hotel.

Bollinger said the first floor of the building was used for overnight guests. The second floor was converted into a series of apartments for long-term renters.

Marble Hill and Bollinger County firefighters were paged by the Bollinger County Sheriff's Department at 7:37 a.m.

Bollinger said when he arrived flames and smoke were already showing from the first-floor kitchen and dining room area at the back of the building in the owner's living quarters. Smoke was also showing on the second floor of the back of the hotel building.

Bollinger immediately ordered an interior attack on the fire, which kept the flames from spreading to the rest of the building. Said Bollinger: "It was really going pretty good when we arrived, but we were able to bring it under control in about 45 minutes. It took another two to three hours to take out all of the hot spots."

Approximately 25 firefighters battled the blaze, including those from the Marble Hill and Bollinger County fire departments and firefighters from the Millersville, Glen Allen, Patton and Leopold fire departments.

The two-story wood-frame building is at the corner of Union and Railroad streets just west of Lutesville Motor Co.

The hotel -- considered a historical landmark -- once served passengers on the old Belmont Branch of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad that ran from Bismark, Lutesville, Allenville, and Oran to Belmont in Mississippi County. That section of the tracks was taken out in 1972.

Bollinger said the original hotel was built in 1904, with several additions added since.

Bollinger said: "It was built with no fire stops between the floors or in the walls. That allowed the fire to spread rapidly up the inside back wall to the second floor. It was just like a chimney. There were also a lot of false ceilings that hampered firefighting efforts."

Bollinger said preparations were being made late Thursday afternoon to seal off the fire-damaged wing of the hotel so power and heat could be restored to the rest of the building. That would allow residents to possibly return to their rooms later in the week.