Fire destroys Warwick Motel

Warwick — Three people went to the hospital early Friday morning after fire tore through the Warwick Motel. But it could have been much worse, according to Warwick Fire Chief Bill DiMartini, if it hadn’t been for the motel owner, Patrick Fitapelli, alerting the 17 sleeping guests. “The owner was the person who got them out,” said DiMartini. “He did a great job. When we got there, there was already a good amount of fire.” Fitapelli quickly was able to give the fire department a list of people and the rooms they were in. There were reports of people missing, DiMartini said, and firefighters searched those rooms. Everyone was accounted for. “He did a good job of accountability,” DiMartini said. One motel guest jumped from a second floor window and landed on a car. He had a broken shoulder and some head lacerations, according to the fire chief. Two others, who were staying at the motel for a week, were transported to St. Anthony Community Hospital, and were later released. The call came in at 12:54 Friday morning and DiMartini first thought they would lose the entire building to the flames. “I thought we’d lose the building from one end to the other,” he said. “But our guys knocked it down really quickly.” The fire, which investigators say was electrical, started in the common attic which runs the length of the building. Battery operated smoke detectors were present in a majority of the rooms, DiMartini said, but would not have sounded an alarm because the fire was above the ceiling. “After the fire burned through the ceiling, the smoke detectors would have gone off,” he said. One hundred firefighters fought the blaze, including those from Warwick Greenwood Lake, Chester, and Goshen. The Florida and Pine Island fire departments took charge of the district while the fire was fought. Three vehicles on the property were damaged as well, with two of them destroyed from the heat coming from the blaze.