Fire Alarm Issue Shuts Down Scranton Hotel
By: Eric Deabill
Updated: January 8, 2013
Scranton, Lackawanna County - A busy hotel in Scranton is closed right now. City leaders say it is because of a problem with the hotel's fire protection.
Dozens of guests were forced out of the Clarion Hotel Monday afternoon after workers found out the building's alarm system was not working properly.
The hotel's general manager says it started around 1:00 PM when a laundry attendant realized there was a problem. He says smoke started coming from a machine but the hotel's smoke detectors never went off.
"It generated some smoke in the area and recognized that the smoke detector, the fire alarm didn't go off, so that triggered our concern," manager Mukib Rahman said.
Scranton city officials and the fire department responded to the hotel.
Mark Seitzinger, director of licensing/codes/permits quickly realized the hotel's fire panel wasn't working.
"The panel was completely dead. We pulled the pull station to test it and there was no response throughout anything," Seitzinger said. "Simplex got nothing neither did the Lackawanna County Communications Center so it's a dangerous situation, especially in a building of that size with that many rooms."
There were dozens of guests staying at the hotel at the time. They were all forced out.
"We did have a lot of guests in the hotel. We were able to re-locate them to nearby different hotels," Rahman said.
As of right now, it's unclear for how long the hotel's fire system was not working properly.
City leaders say they do annual inspections but it had been almost one year since the Clarion Hotel had been checked.
"Last January-February, we did an inspection at the Clarion and everything was fine so the only thing that we can suspect is that something happened between February when we were out there and now but we don't have an exact time," Seitzinger said.
The hotel is currently working with its fire protection carrier to make all of the necessary repairs and even upgrades to the system.
The fire alarm system will then need to be tested.
Both city leaders and the general manager of the hotel are hoping the hotel can be back in business at some point on Wednesday.
