Austintown Fire Department closes hotel

AUSTINTOWN — The Austintown Fire Department closed a hotel along state Route 46 and Interstate 80 on Thursday, after Ohio Edison turned off the hotel’s power for nonpayment.

Lt. Richard Milliron, inspector for the Austintown Fire Department, said he ordered the hotel, formerly known as America’s Best Value Inn and now known as Economy Inn, shut down at about 9 a.m.

People staying at the hotel on Clarkins Drive were ordered to leave, some removing their belongings in the dark as late as 3 p.m.

Milliron said the Go Go Girls Cabaret, which is located on the ground floor at one end of the hotel, was also ordered closed because its power is provided by the hotel.

The cabaret, which has had conflict with the fire department and county building inspection department over code violations in the past, will be free to reopen as soon as the power is turned on, Milliron said.

Milliron said there is “nothing the cabaret did wrong.”

Getting power back on, however, will not be enough to allow the hotel to reopen, Milliron said. He said he found a number of fire code violations and apparent building and electrical code violations inside the structure when he went inside Thursday morning.

The hotel will not be allowed to turn the power back on until it passes a county electrical inspection, Milliron said.

Read more in Friday’s Vindicator and vindy.com