The State : 500 Flee Burning Hotel

Five-hundred New Year’s guests were evacuated as a “highly suspicious” fire damaged the 73-year-old Claremont Hotel in Oakland. The blaze started in the basement of the 236-room, six-story hotel. Fire Capt. Bob Guzy said flames spread through the wood-frame walls, causing extensive smoke and water damage on several recently remodeled floors. The rooms were filled with guests, all of whom were evacuated as firefighters battled the flames for about two hours, said Jim Kelley, hotel marketing director. “We were full-up,” said Kelley. “Most of the guests stayed on for breakfast.” There were no injuries. Guzy noted that the hotel fire followed two major fires on Sunday in Berkeley. That, plus unspecified physical evidence, led investigators to label the hotel blaze “highly suspicious,” Guzy said. Kelley gave a preliminary damage estimate of $300,000 to $500,000.