Fire breaks out in Texas hotel as sprinkler system fails due to frozen pipes from winter storm

The hotel was reportedly at full capacity at the time of the fire.

February 20, 2021, 8:40 a.m.

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A massive fire broke out at a hotel in Killeen, Texas after the building’s sprinkler systems stopped working due to frozen pipes.

On Friday evening, the Killeen Fire Department arrived at the Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Killeen and, according to a fire department statement, found “a fire from the roof above the fourth floor of the four-story hotel”.

“Fire and police are currently working on a major structural fire at the Hilton Garden Inn. PLEASE AVOID THE AREA,” the Killeen Police Department wrote on Twitter at the time.

Seven agencies responded to the fire and were able to control it shortly after midnight.

“The fire fighting was hampered because the automatic sprinkler system was out of order because of frozen pipes,” said the fire department.

The hotel was reportedly at full capacity at the time of the fire and all 102 rooms were operational. The fire department transported some of the displaced guests to Skyline Baptist Church after the incident and the American Red Cross was contacted to help them.

No firefighters were injured, the fire department said, adding that one inmate of the hotel was treated and released at the scene for minor injuries and two inmates were transported to a local hospital to be examined for smoke inhalation.

The fire came as the state continued to struggle with power outages and burst pipes due to the extreme winter weather that occurred this week. On Friday morning there were still hundreds of thousands of Texans without electricity and millions still looking for drinking water.