Flat Iron Causes Fire and Prompts Evacuation at Orlando Hotel

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on July 31, 2019

A flat iron used for straightening hair is being blamed for a fire that broke out inside of popular hotel close to SeaWorld Orlando and resulted in around 1,000 people being evacuated from the building. According to reports from the Orange County Fire Rescue team who responded to the emergency call that came from the building, the fire broke out on Thursday, July 24th. Early news reports failed to state at what time the fire broke out, and it is not clear if it was during the day, when many of the guests would have been elsewhere, or at night, when the occupants of the rooms would have been settling in for bed.

What we do know is that the room where the fire began was located on the 7th floor of Renaissance Orlando, a hotel which its on Sea Harbor Drive and is a common destination for people who plan on visiting SeaWorld Orlando. It is not clear if the occupants of this room were inside at the time or if they had left prior to the beginning of the fire. Shortly before the fire erupted, a flat iron had been used to straighten the hair of an occupant of this 7th floor room. It appears as though the individual who used this iron forgot to turn it off or unplug it from the wall, and instead left it burning on the countertop.

It was this that resulted in the fire beginning.

Fortunately, the hotel’s sprinkler system and fire alarms worked exceedingly well, and it was only a short time after the fire began that water started spraying throughout both this room and the floors located below. According to the Orange County Fire Rescue, although around 1,000 guests and staff of the hotel were evacuated from the building, the only room that sustained fire damage was the one where the fire first began. Several of the rooms below the one where the fire originated also suffered from some damage due to the sprinkler system, but other than that there were no reported damages and – more importantly – no reported injuries among the guests who were involved.

Sources:

• Flat iron causes fire at Renaissance Orlando hotel; 1,000 evacuated

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.