Fire Starts in Same Hotel Room Where Meth Lab Was Discovered

Guests at a La Palma hotel had to be evacuated twice in one day after a fire broke out in a room that was used to cook the drug methamphetamine.

La Quinta Inn guests were first ordered out of their rooms Tuesday morning, after a tip revealed that a room on the seventh floor was being used as a makeshift drug laboratory. About 8 p.m. Tuesday, a fire broke out in the same room. It had was started by a hot plate that had been used to cook up the drugs that was never unplugged. Police continue to look for suspects.

Ley Bolinger, a minister whose room was located a few doors from the drug laboratory, was moved to a room on the fifth floor, only to be evacuated a second time and then relocated to a Buena Park hotel. “All the firetrucks came back, all the helicopters and the police. There was as much activity as the morning,” Bolinger said. This time, however, Bolinger was prepared. “We didn’t have to hurry and scurry like in the morning. They told us to take the time to gather our things.”

Bolinger said she took it all in stride, although some other guests were irritated.

“I met a man from India who had a meeting with Kmart. He totally missed out on that meeting,” Bolinger said. “For some people it was a great inconvenience.”

Hotel manager Victor Popp suffered mild exposure to drug-related fumes when he discovered the lab. He said the hotel was struggling to get back to normal. “We’re just happy no guests were hurt,” he said.