TULALIP — No one was injured but three floors of guests were evacuated in the middle of the night as a small fire broke out on the 10th floor of the new Tulalip Casino Resort hotel early Sunday.
The hotel had been open since June, but its official dedication ceremony was Friday night, little more than 24 hours before the fire at 3:43 a.m. Sunday.
The fire broke out in the elevator lobby area of the 10th floor, according to Stephanie Price, spokeswoman for the Marysville Fire District. The hotel’s sprinkler system extinguished the fire by the time firefighters had hauled their hoses up the stairwell, Price said. The fire was contained to a small area around a planter box near the elevator, she said.
About 100 hotel guests were evacuated from the ninth, 10th and 11th floors and temporarily escorted outside the front entry area, Price said.
It’s believed the fire was caused by a cigarette or cigar that someone apparently tried to extinguish in the planter box, Price said. The fire is under investigation by the Snohomish County Fire Marshal’s Office. No estimate of the damage was available Sunday.
The staff of the new hotel was well trained in responding to incidents, Price said.
“It sounded like everything worked the way it was supposed to and was designed to,” she said.
The 12-story, $130 million Tulalip Resort hotel and conference center, next to the tribal confederation’s casino, opened its doors in June. Nightly rates for the hotel’s 370 rooms are expected to start around $200 and top out at several thousand dollars a night once the hotel’s introductory rates expire in a few months. The hotel contains tribal art valued at $1 million.
The hotel was officially dedicated Friday night with a Chinese lion dance performed by the Seattle Kung Fu Association, along with drumming, dancing, prayers and speeches by Tulalip tribal members.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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