A fire in a laundry room dryer in the basement of the Sheraton Read House Hotel in downtown Chattanooga set off alarms and prompted the evacuation of the entire building at 10:44 p.m. Wednesday, said Bruce Garner, a fire department spokesman.
He said firefighters extinguished the blaze with portable fire extinguishers. The fire was confined to the basement of the 827 Broad St. hotel, and there was smoke damage to that floor only, Mr. Garner said. One hotel employee complained of smoke inhalation, but he declined medical treatment at a hospital, according to Mr. Garner.
Several hundred guests, some in pajamas, lined nearby streets for nearly an hour while firefighters ventilated the building to remove the smoke.
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