One dead, 2 hurt in Lockport fire

A five-alarm fire tore through a Lockport hotel early Tuesday, killing at least one person and injuring two others, authorities said.

The fire broke out at the three-story Towpath Inn just before 4 a.m., according to the Lockport Township Fire Protection District. Firefighters from several communities battled the blaze in the century-old brick building for hours before bringing it under control later in the morning.

One body was found on the third floor of the building, where the fire apparently started, Chief Rob Cronholm said. The body had not been identified Tuesday afternoon and it was unclear whether the person was a resident at the hotel, he said. Two other people were being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

The cause of the blaze was unknown. But Cronholm said an initial investigation, including a search by a dog trained to sniff out accelerants, had not revealed any indication the fire was intentionally set.

The hotel registry showed many as 14 people were staying at the hotel, authorities said. All had been accounted for by the afternoon, Cronholm said, though he acknowledged officials were not sure of the registry's accuracy.

Cronholm said firefighters continued to search the building Tuesday afternoon.

Ed Zamora said he was sleeping in the second-story room, where he had lived about a week, when he heard people banging on his door and yelling. He had to rush out without any possessions, and "when I got outside, the whole roof was engulfed in flames."

"I'm very lucky to be alive for the fact that I was asleep, sound asleep, until all the yelling started," he said. "My alarm clock was not going to go off for another two hours."

Cronholm said that when firefighters arrived, smoke and flames were pouring from the building, and crews had to run hoses from outside the downtown area to get enough water to fight the blaze.

"We didn't have enough water to fight the fire initially," Cronholm said. "Water mains downtown aren't quite what they should be for a water flow like this."