Fire Chases 100 From Holiday Inn in Pasadena

More than 100 people were evacuated from the Pasadena Holiday Inn Friday and a contractor for the hotel was arrested when a combustible liquid being used to strip furniture in a top-floor luxury suite ignited, officials said.

It took about 20 minutes for firefighters to douse the 1 p.m. blaze, which caused one minor injury to a guest from smoke inhalation and did an estimated $50,000 damage to several rooms of the five-story structure.

Authorities arrested the leader of the hotel’s furniture-stripping crew for unlawfully causing a fire. Robert Goodman, 34, was being held at Pasadena jail Friday night.

The hotel may also be cited for improper use of a flammable material in the large suite known as the “King Leisure Room,” said Pasadena Deputy Fire Chief Don Hughes. An investigation is continuing.

Hotel officials declined to comment on the cause of the fire. But they said the staff knocked on doors or telephoned the inn’s 320 rooms, about 120 of which had registered guests, as soon as it was detected.

“Our system was working . . . we checked each and every guest room,” said general manager James Mitchell.

Some guests, however, expressed dismay that they did not hear an alarm during the evacuation.

“That’s the amazing thing,” said Daniel Salomon, 42, an apostolic pastor from Denver who was at the hotel for a religious conference. “It’s scary to have a fire and not hear an alarm.”

Paul Hough, 35, an engineer from Baton Rouge, La., said he and about 20 members of his firm had been holding a management seminar in a basement conference room and noticed the commotion during a break.

“I came out the door and all these fire trucks were already outside,” Hough said. “If we hadn’t taken a break, we might not have even known there was a fire.”

Pasadena fire officials said there was an audible alarm in the west wing of the hotel, where the blaze was located. They are investigating whether the alarm system was functioning properly.