Fire at Travelodge evacuates building, 1 hospitalized

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- One person is recovering in the hospital after a fire tore through a Travelodge hotel room.

The blaze happened at about 5:30 a.m. Friday in a hotel room on the second floor of the Travelodge at 1251 E. Sunrise Blvd. A 7News viewer submitted video of heavy flames and smoke billowing from the window of the hotel room. "We came out at 5:30 and there was just fire and black smoke, and you couldn't see anything," said Matt Fitzpatrick.

Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue arrived on scene to find room 217 fully engulfed in flames.

Authorities had to evacuate the building as crews extinguished the blaze. "Someone was banging on a door on the room next to us, and I assumed someone had missed their flight," said Rachel Fitzpatrick who was lodging with her husband. "Then I heard, 'Fire' and I looked outside and saw the sirens and I turned around and told him, 'Baby, that's happening here, this is actually in our parking lot.'"

Hotel room guests were rudely awakened by loud noise and sirens. "I woke up to noise outside, and I say to my sister, 'It's here. It's fire,'" said one man.

Nicoli Molim from Brazil, who is lodging at the hotel for three weeks, removed all of her belongings when she was evacuated from the building. "We got up with the fire trucks outside our window, but we are safe because we're on the other corner from where the fire happened," she said.

The fire was contained to one room.

Rescue crews transported one person to Broward Health for burns and smoke inhalation.

After an hour of waiting, hotel guests were allowed back into their rooms.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

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