Jackson firefighters battle flames at motel

JACKSON, Tenn. — The Jackson Fire Department responds to a fire at a local motel Wednesday morning.

The Jackson Fire Department arrived at 2239 Hollywood Drive Wednesday morning in response to a fire at the Rodeway Inn. The fire, which appeared to start in a first floor unit, quickly spread to the second floor.

“Today, we got a call at 8:18 this morning. Apartment complex on fire, hotel slash apartment complex. We came out, fire was showing heavy smoke,” said Battalion Chief Brian Bowers with the Jackson Fire Department.

When we arrived around 10:30 a.m., JFD and hazmat were still on scene. The firefighters worked diligently to control the fire, although they did encounter some obstacles.

“There was one unit on fire, so much stuff piled in there that we couldn’t get to the fire, so the fire pretty much spread, and we got it under control. Took us about an hour and a half to get the fire under control,” said Chief Bowers.

Firefighters also battled the freezing temperatures. Maneuvering through the slick ground conditions made their working conditions extremely difficult.

“Not a lot of difficulties putting it out in the snow. It’s the same anytime we have to come to an emergency, we try to get there as safe as possible, and the snow makes it no different. We have to go a little slower, but besides that we try to get here as fast as we could to try to control this fire,” said Chief Bowers.

There were no injuries to residents or firefighters. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

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