Downtown Hotel Fire Injures 5 : Suspect Held in $500,000 Blaze at the Sara Frances

A three-alarm fire roared through the Sara Frances Hometel Friday afternoon, destroying a third of the rooms, forcing five people to hospitals with minor injuries, and sending thick columns of smoke and dusty red flames above downtown San Diego.

About 100 firefighters battled rush-hour traffic to rein in the blaze at 4:30 p.m., about an hour after the first alarm was sounded. But it was too late to stop an estimated $500,000 in damage and save many of the rooms at the 95-year-old residential hotel--formerly called the Keystone Hotel--on 10th Avenue between Broadway and E Street. It was the second fire in four years at the structure.

The estimated 125 people who live at the hotel were being offered temporary shelter Friday night at the nearby City of Angels Mission. Ironically, the owner of the Sara Frances, Seymour (Rocky) Reichbart, also owns the mission and had donated the mission building at 12th Avenue and Broadway earlier this year as a refuge for the poor.

Late Friday night police arrested Reginald Hughes, 45, and booked him into County Jail on suspicion of recklessly starting the fire. Investigators from the Metro Arson Strike Team said they believed a smoldering cigarette in Room 306, where Hughes lived, started the blaze.

This was the second time in several months that a fire had broken out in Hughes’ room, said Capt. Larry Cooke.

Within minutes, smoke alarms sounded and the sprinkler system was activated in the hallway of the building. Reichbart and several residents ran through the three-story building, herding residents onto the street. Without the smoke detectors, Reichbart said, many residents might have died in the fire.

“Everyone heard the alarm banging and got moving because we smelled smoke at the same time,” said Frances Thomas, whose husband, William, suffered burns on his arms and smoke inhalation when he tried to stem the blaze before the firefighters arrived. The Thomases moved into the hotel, which has 80 rooms ranging in price from $150 to $300 a month, in November.

San Diego Police Officer Jim Filley was the first to respond to the 911 telephone call for help and carried R.H. Goodrell from his first-floor room.

“It was smoky, real smoky, and he was sitting in a chair, almost completely undressed, fighting me like a dog because he thought his wife was still in the bathroom,” Filley said. “When I checked and found out she had left already, he turned a lot calmer.”

Resident Harold Levenson, formerly of Florida, broke into the vacant Room 306 with a fire extinguisher but said the flames were too strong to beat back.

Later, Levenson stood with his unlit pipe on the 10th Avenue sidewalk, along with more than 100 other Sara Frances residents, including manager Peggy Conlin, who was holding her cat, Tiger, safely inside a pillow case.

Many of the hotel residents are elderly and live on government checks. Tim Lozares, a 24-year-old resident who lives with his elderly mother and younger sister, expressed worry about their futures.

“I hope something is salvageable because everything was up there--our television, our clothes, Mom’s purse. If we lose that, we’ve lost everything,” Lozares said.

Firefighters attempted to save as much of the hotel as possible, battling the blaze mainly from the inside rather than flooding the roof with aerial streams and driving the fire to cause further interior damage.

Acting Deputy Fire Chief Al Thomason said an inside attack on the fire, although more dangerous to personnel, saves more of the building. Fire crews blocked off numerous downtown streets and snarled rush-hour traffic by shuttling back and forth from their equipment, relieving weary colleagues.

Much of the roof was destroyed, but interior damage was limited largely to the southeast part of the building, firefighters said after climbing down ladders fronting second- and third-story windows. A part of the east wall fronting 11th Avenue and a Goodyear auto repair shop was in danger of collapse Friday night.

As residents were shepherded to the City of Angels Mission, arson investigators were attempting to find a cause and estimate structural damage. San Diego Gas & Electric crews shut off service to prevent any fire-related flare-ups.

Five people suffered from smoke inhalation and three were taken to Mercy Hospital. Spokesman Norman Greene identified them as William Thomas, 34, a security guard; Ken Verdone, 25, a city police officer, and firefighter Perry Peake, 26.

Two of the victims were taken to UC San Diego Medical Center. They are Willie Johnson, 33, and Vincent Quinn, 58, both suffering from smoke inhalation.

All victims are under medical observation.

Friday’s fire was the second in recent years. About 140 people were forced to flee the then-Keystone Hotel in January, 1982, when an arson fire started under a second-story stairwell. No one was seriously hurt.

Times staff writer Kathleen H. Cooley contributed to this story.