Hotel guest describes escape from DoubleTree fire

LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - A DoubleTree hotel guest describes the moments he thought he wouldn’t make it out alive after a fire broke out.

KGNS spoke with Adrian Espinoza, who was inside the hotel when it happened.

Espinoza said he was in the shower and kept hearing banging noises. He said he figured it was the maintenance worker.

Espinoza said he turned off the water when he smelled smoke. Moments later, the power went out.

“No smoke alarms, no fire alarms, no any sort of warning that there was a fire at all in the hotel,” Espinoza said.

He grabbed what he could and headed for the stairwell, but he said thick black smoke blocked his path.

“I tried running down there with my shirt covering my face. I got down to like the third floor, and I realized I couldn’t go anymore. So then I had to run back up,” Espinoza said.

Back on the eighth floor, Espinoza said he briefly considered breaking his window to escape.

“I was positive I was gonna die. I was like, maybe if I go into my room, I can grab a chair and throw it through the window and try jumping,” Espinoza said.

Instead, he found a second stairwell with less smoke and made it out. He said he was one of eight people rushed to the hospital.

“If I had been in that hotel a couple of minutes longer, there’s no way I would have lived,” Espinoza said.

Outside, others watched the scene unfold from a distance. Eduardo Garcia was driving to work when he noticed smoke from flames engulfing the hotel.

“This morning we started on flames, and it was — wow — it was crazy,” Garcia said.

Garcia said he’s grateful crews responded so quickly.

“I was very happy to see the first responders. They came really fast, and they were able to control the fire,” Garcia said.

Arlene Chamberlain, who lives nearby, said the street closures have changed her daily routine, but she understands why.

“It is unstable, so they’re not letting anybody pass through ... so they’re making us go all the way around,” Chamberlain said.

Investigators still don’t know what sparked the fire. No casualties have been reported.

Espinoza told KGNS he’s still waiting for answers. He said he never heard smoke alarms going off inside the hotel.

Crews still haven’t confirmed a cause. Several streets around the hotel remain closed Wednesday night and into the weekend.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

For more headlines, click here.