Fire in Seneca hotel caused by careless smoking

Cigarette didn’t make it out window; burns hallway chair

SENECA – Careless use of smoking materials sparked the blaze in the three-story hotel at 426 N. Main St., Fire Chief Jerry Sears noted.

No injuries were reported in the fire, which was confined to an overstuffed chair in the hallway on one floor of the complex.

“A couple had the chair in the hallway, and thought they put their cigarettes out the window, but one cigarette didn’t make it,” he said today.

Sears did not have the couple’s names.

The incident was reported at 4:31 a.m. Monday, by another occupant who thought she smelled smoke, and opened the door of her apartment into the hallway to investigate.

Sears said smoke had filled the hallway, and the upstairs and downstairs floors of the building. Minimal damage was reported to one apartment.

Firefighters were at the scene about two hours. They were assisted by the Morris and Marseilles Fire Department under mutual aid agreement.

Seneca had six firefighters at the scene, Morris had five, and Marseilles six or seven, Sears said.

He said the blaze was the first reported in the hotel in a long time. All the previous incidents also were small fires, he said.

The incident was in contrast to a similar  house fire early Saturday which is blamed in the death Tuesday of Mary Grandadam, 66, of 902 Bratton Ave.

Originally set for Wednesday, her autopsy has been rescheduled to today, a spokesman for  the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office noted.

Marseilles Fire Chief Mick Garrison said Wednesday this fire, too, was caused by careless use of smoking materials.