SEATTLE – Seattle firefighters say workers started a fire Wednesday at the Westin Hotel downtown between the 4th and 5thfloors.
There were no injuries.
"Workers were working on a bathroom and may have ignited the insulation and that fire and smoke went through HVAC duct work or a void space in the wall," said Seattle Fire Department spokesman Kyle Moore.
Smoke from that traveled up through that void space to the 10th, 11th, and 12th floors. People called 911 after seeing it billow from the vents halfway up the tower. Hotel security evacuated the entire north tower as a precaution.
"You smell smoke, you're on the 19th floor, [you] get out," said Steve Irons, who was staying on that upper floor.
He said he and the other guests used the staircase to evacuate.
"When we got to the 4th floor, the smoke was getting thicker as went down," he said. "It wasn't so bad you couldn't breathe, but you wanted to cover your face."
About 100 fire personnel were on scene, which is one of the department's largest responses.
"Having a high-rise fire we have a potential of a lot of people that would need to be evacuated," Moore said. "Plus you have a lot of floors to cover."
Early estimates put the damage around $40,000.
By 6 p.m., occupants were all allowed back inside.
"Today @ approx. 3pm: a small construction related emergency at our hotel," a tweet said from The Westin Seattle's account. "The situation has been fully assessed & contained by the fire dept."
