Fire Breaks Out at Hotel Royal Chiao Hsi 礁溪老爺酒店昨晚傳火警 3名房客嗆傷

Over 500 hotel guests and employees were evacuated on the 9th after a kitchen fire broke out at Hotel Royal Chiao Hsi in Yilan County. Three of them suffered minor smoke inhalation, with no serious casualties reported. The luxury hotel said it would be closed for three days and provide compensation to those affected.

Firefighters make their way into the basement kitchen of this hotel restaurant to locate the source of the fire. The fire broke out at 7 p.m. on the 9th at Yilan's Hotel Royal Chiao Hsi. The hotel evacuated over 400 guests, and no one was hurt.

Hotel Guest: “(When the fire alarm) went off, I was in the middle of undressing. I put my clothes back on and rushed outside with my bare feet.”

Hotel Guest: “Hotel workers told us about the fire and told us to get outside.”

Authorities believe the fire started on the stove and made its way into the exhaust pipe. An area of 20 square meters sustained damage, and three people were treated at nearby hospitals for smoke inhalation. The hotel says there were 438 guests and diners in the hotel at the time and no one will be charged for the night's expenses. The guests and diners may also receive compensation.

Chu Chih-pei, Fire Investigator: “(No sprinklers) were going off when we arrived. We will be contacting the company that manages their fire safety facilities to find out why. The fire suppression foam did go off. We took pictures of that.”

Hu Ya-ting, Hotel Royal Chiao Hsi Spokesperson: “(The sprinkler system didn't go off. How do you explain that?) We won't be able to answer that until we get the reports back. ”

The hotel says fire safety facilities are inspected every six months and the most recent inspection took place in mid-February, and it doesn't know right now why the sprinkler system didn't go off. As the hotel's occupancy rate is over 80 percent these few days, losses will likely be significant. The hotel will be closed for three days and guests with reservations can choose to change their date or cancel for a refund.

華麗的飯店餐廳現在滿室焦黑、狼藉一片，消防人員進入地下室的廚房，試圖想找到起火點。9日晚間7時多，宜蘭著名的礁溪老爺酒店突然傳出火警，飯店當下緊急疏散400多名旅客，所幸沒有人受困傷亡。

房客指出：「警報訊號一叫，我本來衣服脫掉再穿一穿，襪子都沒穿就跑出來了。」

房客提及：「服務人員就告訴我們說裡面有狀況，叫我們出來。」

整起火警疑似廚房油鍋起火燒到排油煙管，機房部分特別嚴重，初判燃燒面積為20平方公尺，附近杏和醫院共收到3名病患自行就醫，都是輕微嗆傷。飯店表示，包括房客及現場用餐客人一共有438人，當晚費用全由飯店買單，也會負起後續賠償責任。

火災調查科科長朱志培表示：「灑水功能我們到的時候，是沒有發現這樣子的狀況，詳細的原因還是要問他們的消防設備的承修公司，泡沫的設備那邊都有啟動，我們有下去拍。」

記者問道：「灑水系統沒有很明顯啟動，這點怎麼解釋？」

礁溪老爺酒店公關胡雅婷回應：「這點我們還是要等確切的一些報告出來，我們才有辦法做進一步的說明。」

飯店表示，每半年都會進行消防安檢，今（2023）年2月中才剛完成，至於是否因安檢或其他原因關掉撒水系統，要等報告出爐才能得知。礁溪老爺酒店因這次火災損失目前尚未無法估算，但因這幾天住房率都有8至9成，因此對旅客影響頗大，飯店即日停業3天善後，期間訂房旅客可選擇延期或取消退費。