Hotel back in business
The Rodd Royalty is up and running after the hotel had a fire in its building Monday night.
The fire was cause when one of the pipes supplying chemicals to the pool burst and leaked over the floor, which then drained down into the electrical room and on to some panels in the floor below.
“It ate away at the metal and caused a fire,” said Keith Samuel, general manager at Rodd Royalty. “That is what we gather at the moment anyway.”
Upon hearing the alarm system going off, one of the maintenance staff went down to check the area and could see the fire.
“He did manage to tackle the fire himself and get it contained, but at that time the fire alarm was already going off and emergency teams were called on site to help assist.”
Overall, the evacuation unfolded as good as it could go, said Samuel.
“You are never really prepared for when the alarm goes off,” he said. “You do your training and until the alarm goes off in the heat of the moment you really don’t know how things are going to go.”
The incident affected approximately 30 guests who had to be relocated to the Rodd Charlottetown, Delta and the Holiday Inn.
The hotel sustained minor smoke damage. No one was injured from the fire.
“The lobby was smoky but lucky enough with the emergency services and the way they reacted so quickly, they were able to suck a lot of the air out of the building through certain vents, avoiding a lot of smoke damage.”
The electricity came back on around 10:30 p.m. Monday with electricians working to restore a few electrical panels Tuesday.
The hotel hosted several meetings Tuesday morning, and guests were arriving at the hotel by the afternoon.
Samuel said for the future, they are looking at several ways to reduce the risks of this happening again.