Fairfield Inn to face code-violation charges

Staff report

AUSTINTOWN

Township fire officials plan to file charges against the Fairfield Inn and Suites for violating township and state fire codes.

Fire Chief Andy Frost Jr. said firefighters responded to an alarm that was sounded at the hotel at about 11 p.m. Tuesday.

Frost said the front-desk clerk on duty called general manager Rachel Miskell when the alarm sounded. She told him to silence the alarm and call off the alarm company and fire department, the chief said.

Miskell didn’t return calls to comment Wednesday afternoon.

Frost said a pillow in one of the rooms caught fire from a burning candle.

“Even though the alarm was canceled, we still had to send one truck down to investigate the alarm,” he said. “When we got there, we discovered that there had been a small fire.”

No one was evacuated from the hotel, at 801 N. Niles-Canfield Road, though Frost said some occupants went down to the lobby to see what was going on.

He said silencing an alarm, not evacuating the building and having a lit candle inside a hotel room are all code violations.

He said because these are serious matters, the department plans to file charges in Mahoning County Area Court in Austintown after the first of the year.

“They’re in violation of Ohio Fire Code and our township fire code,” he said.

Frost said the charges will likely be failure to comply with policies and procedures under Austintown and Ohio fire codes. He said these are misdemeanor charges.

“You have 50 or more rooms in this hotel, and anybody who’s in that building is at risk when there’s a fire,” he said. “That’s why these codes are in place.”