Four killed, 18 injured at hotel fire

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- Fire spread through the top floor of a small residential hotel in the early morning darkness Saturday, killing four people and injuring 18 as firefighters pulled dozens more to safety.

When firefighters reached the Sunset Hotel just before 1 a.m., several people were hanging from the upper floor windows, fire officials said.

Firefighters used ladders to reach more than 30 people, including a 2-month-old infant, but others were trapped inside, and much of the third floor was engulfed in flames.

The hotel's night manager died after grabbing a fire extinguisher and taking an elevator to the third floor, fire officials said. He and three other adults were later found dead.

"When the elevator door opened, he was right in the middle of the fire," battalion chief Mike Alder said. "He probably took one or two breaths and that was it."

Also killed were a woman in the hallway, a man near a window and a man who had taken refuge in a bathroom.

The night manager's body was found in the elevator alcove where the blaze was believed to have started in a plastic, 32-gallon trash can where residents said trash piled up periodically.

The exact cause of the fire remained under investigation, but firefighters had recently doused two trash can fires at the hotel, Alder said. He said the last one, on Nov. 8, also occurred on the third floor.

It took 80 firefighters from several agencies about an hour to douse the blaze, which was confined to the top floor of the three-story hotel. Damage was estimated at $150,000. The hotel's owner declined to comment.

There were 94 people in the building at the time the blaze began, authorities said.

Resident Philip Blacksher, 45, said he tried to run out of his room and down the stairs but was blocked by thick smoke.

"I couldn't see anything. I heard them hollering, 'The building's on fire, the building's on fire!"' said Blacksher, who found another way to safety.

Of the 18 people injured in the fire, two were listed in critical condition and two others in guarded condition, hospital officials said. Others, including at least five children, were either listed as stable or were being treated for only minor injuries.

At the low-rent, three-story stucco hotel, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, rooms rent for $425 a month and many residents live on Social Security or disability payments. The building had no sprinkler system but it passed a fire inspection in August, Alder said.

There were 94 people in the building at the time the blaze began Saturday morning, authorities said.

Of the 18 people injured in the fire, two were listed in critical condition and two others in guarded condition, hospital officials said. Others, including at least five children, were either listed as stable or were being treated for only minor injuries.

The low-rent, three-story stucco hotel, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, had no sprinkler system but it passed a fire inspection in August, Alder said.