1978 Holiday Inn fire

The 1978 Holiday Inn Fire broke out at the Holiday Inn-Northwest which was located at 1525 West Ridge Road in the Town of Greece, near Rochester, New York on November 26, 1978 and killed ten people.^[1][2] Seven of the fatalities were Canadian;^[3] 88 Canadians were staying in the hotel at the time on a holiday shopping trip. The fire was considered notable enough by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and The Center for Fire Research to document the fire in their 1979 publications.^[1][4] In the end 10 people were killed and 34 injured. In 2008, the NFPA listed the 1978 Holiday Inn Fire as one of only three dozen or so fires which killed 10 or more people in the United States between 1934 and 2006.^[2]

Background

The building was built in 1963 at a cost of $1.3 million and consisted of a wood frame structure with interior hallways and 91 rooms. The building had passed a fire inspection earlier in the month.^[5] The fire started on the first floor between the north and west wings of the hotel around 2:30 am. Cleaning supplies and paper products were stored in a closet near the fire's point of origin. Due to fire doors being left opened and the nearby combustible materials the fire spread very rapidly. The fire alarm system was not tied to a dispatch center and although some people reported a bell ringing, they failed to realize it was the emergency alarm bell.^[6] The fire was not reported to the fire department until 2:38 am when an off duty firefighter passing by reported it.^[4] The fire burned out of control for more than two hours. One hundred and twenty-five firefighters from six area fire companies responded. About 170 people were rescued from the building by firefighters and passers-by.^[7] The fire was declared under control at 4:34 a.m. with an ultimate toll of 10 dead - eight women and two men—and 34 injured. Investigators said the fire broke windows in the hallways connecting the motel's two wings. Flames shot up to the roofs of both wings and swept through an open area between the room's ceilings and roofs. Firewalls in the buildings did not extend to the roof, allowing the fire to rip through the top floor of each wing. The burning roof had collapsed into the top floor rooms.^[8]

Investigation

Initially the police did not consider the fire suspicious. Questions arose about whether or not the fire alarms could be heard in the lobby of the Holiday Inn when firefighters arrived. While hotel officials said the alarms were functioning, firefighters first at the scene said they were unable to hear the bells. Although the building met existing fire codes, it lacked some fire prevention equipment including no smoke detectors, no sprinkler system, the fire alarm system wasn't connected to the Greece-Ridge Fire Department or other security agency, and there was only one vertical fire wall between the two wings. The alarm system consisted only of one bell in the middle of each of the two wings.^[9] An expert fire investigator named John Stickevers was brought in from New York City to assist with the investigation. He discovered that an uncommon highly flammable accelerant was used to start the fire in the form of a liquid which was ignited inside a storage cupboard under the first floor stairwell.^[10] The fire was officially ruled as an arson attack. No one was ever charged with this crime. The case remains open today. In early 2011, the Greece Police Department launched the most intensive investigation of the fire in the last thirty years.^[11] On November 26, 2014, police announced that they have identified a suspect for the first time. This comes almost 36 years following the deadly fire.^[12]

References