Fire at a landmark downtown hotel sent Buffalo firefighters into action Sunday afternoon. Shortly after 5:00 p.m. residents at the Hotel Lafayette on Washington Street noticed smoke on the upper floors of the soon to be shuttered building. Firefighters found some furniture burning in a locked room on the third floor and put out the fire within a matter of minutes. This once grand building is still home for many people. Firefighters checked all the floors to make sure everyone was all right.
"There's about 30 to 40 residents that still live in the building," says Division Chief Don McFeely of the Buffalo Fire Department, "They are scattered all through the building which makes it difficult because we don't know where they are and they don't seem to know where they are. We had to go look around to make sure that everybody got out. Because it got kind of smoky on the third floor."
The fire caused around $15,000 worth of damage. Fire marshals are investigating the cause. Fortunately there are no reported injuries.
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