Chattanooga: Meth lab may be cause of motel fire

A meth lab, tucked in a Lee Highway motel room, might be the cause of a two-alarm blaze Monday that injured a firefighter and displaced 22 families, officials said.

The fire broke out about 2:30 p.m. on the second floor of the Airport Inn at 7725 Lee Highway, said Bruce Garner, Chattanooga Fire Department spokesman.

“Based on observations on how fast the fire spread and an apparent past history of meth labs at that motel, the haz-mat personnel are using special chemical monitoring devices to help confirm whether or not a meth lab was involved,” Mr. Garner wrote in a news release.

The fire still is under investigation, he said.

Firefighters battled the blaze for more than an hour Monday. It produced smoke that was visible from Interstate 75 and resulted in a firefighter being treated for heat exhaustion, Mr. Garner said.

The fire started in a guest’s room and then spread to the attic, making it a difficult blaze to extinguish, Battalion Chief Winston Shields said.

The 79-room hotel had 20 occupied rooms when the fire broke out, owner Sanjay Acharya said. Some guests told firefighters they did not hear a fire alarm and, instead, a clerk knocked on every door in the motel and rushed guests to safety, Mr. Garner said.

The lack of fire and smoke alarms is an allegation the fire department will investigate, Mr. Garner said.

Mr. Acharya said he bought the motel two months ago, and the building passed a fire department inspection a week ago. He said all the rooms had fire alarms and smoke detectors.

Some guests were living in the motel on a semi-permanent basis.

“We lost everything. We’re homeless,” said Denise Barron, who came with her boyfriend from New Mexico to search for jobs. Their employment prospects fell through, she said, and they planned to check out of the motel today.

“All our stuff, my ID and everything, is up in the room,” Ms. Barron said.

Teresa Case said she had been living at the Airport Inn for about three weeks, renting a room for $180 a week.

“All I have now are the clothes I’m wearing,” she said. “There was no time to get anything else.”

The Greater Chattanooga Area Red Cross is providing fire victims temporary lodging, said Claudia Moore, the charity’s spokeswoman. By Monday evening, 22 families had been given three nights’ of lodging, she said.

Mr. Acharya, speaking while firefighters were still atop ladder trucks, spraying water on his motel, said he would rebuild.

“This is God’s wish,” Mr. Acharya said. “Hopefully, he will help us rebuild and get through this trying situation.”