Fire significantly damages South Tahoe hotel
The Deerfield Lodge and hotel guests’ vehicles were destroyed July 23 by fire. Photo/Susan Wood
By Kathryn Reed
Two people were injured when the Deerfield Lodge in South Lake Tahoe went up in flames Wednesday night.
The fire that swept through the Ski Run Boulevard two-story hotel displaced all of the guests. Thirty-five people were taken to Lakeside Inn for the evening and are expected to return today.
The back building that had six rooms was completely destroyed, while the front is intact and does not have smoke damage.
South Lake Tahoe Fire Chief Jeff Meston estimated the damage at between $2 million and $2.5 million.
Also gone are four guest vehicles and two cars parked on Spruce Avenue, about 25 feet away from the hotel.
The people who were injured jumped from the second story balcony. Meston told Lake Tahoe News they were taken to Barton Memorial Hospital with significant injuries, but did not have further details.
Firefighters on July 24 assess the damage to Deerfield Lodge and investigate the cause. Photo/Susan Wood
The fire started at 11:45pm July 23 and was brought under control at 2:35am. Assisting South Lake Tahoe were firefighters from Tahoe Douglas and Lake Valley, along with an engine from CalFire. The cause is under investigation.
Tahoe Douglas’ ladder truck was used because South Lake Tahoe’s new one is still not in service because it was damaged when the manufacturer had someone drive it from Louisiana to Tahoe in four-wheel drive.
Susie Horst, who lives across the street on Spruce Avenue, had her windows knocked out from the fire. She had to evacuate.
Horst told Lake Tahoe News it was like she was having a nightmare because she could hear all of these people screaming.
A guest woke up Jerry Birdwell, owner of the Black Bear Inn located next door to the Deerfield, to tell him about the fire.
A truck was spraying water from the side street next to the Black Bear across the bed and breakfast’s property to the Deerfield.
“I looked and my god it was blazing,” Birdwell told Lake Tahoe News. “They protected our property. The manner in which the firefighters worked, the police worked and when [City Manager] Nancy [Kerry] got on scene and handled the situation with Deerfield guests … it was absolutely professional.”
It was Kerry who arranged for a BlueGo bus to take the people to Lakeside Inn and was calling all over town before she was able to secure rooms for the night at the Stateline casino-hotel.
The city is coordinating relief efforts for guests – adults and teenagers – who lost everything. Anyone who can assist with clothing, lodging or other amenities should call 530.542.6016.
The Deerfield Lodge goes up in flames. Photo/Denis Bellocq
The Red Cross is not much help in situations like this because their focus is on people who live in a town, not tourists.
The Deerfield used to be the Dream Inn until Eric and Robin Eichenfield bought it in May 2006 for $800,000 and then invested more than $1 million to turn it into an upscale boutique hotel. New owners took over a year ago this month. No one was answering the phone this morning at the Deerfield.
This was the third South Lake Tahoe hotel fire in a last few weeks. On July 20 the Highland Inn was affected by the fire at Mountain Mike’s T-shirt shop. Then there was a small fire at Lake Shore Lodge that started in a dryer.
Susan Wood contributed to this story.
I was in the unit under the fire and it was scary, but people were NOT screaming. It was a mad scramble to grab some clothes and get out, but everyone was focused and calm.
Thank you City Manager Kerry for assisting these visitors to our community in this serious emergency. Your actions demonstrated a real concern for helping people during what I’m certain was a frightening and confusing time for them and was a thoughtful and kind gesture.
Spouse – 4-mer-usmc
Thank you SLTFD & Douglas FD!!!!
Footage of the fire just after the Fire Dept arrived.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L0iB3EoVEw (from 2009 fire)
Hey, where are all the anti gubmint folks to badmouth the Fire Department and city?
The community and businesses on Ski Run Blvd. were amazing and treated us so well with many people offering to help any way they could.
I would like to thank the neighborhood of ski run for risking their lives for waking the guest up to evacuate from Dear Lodge Inn…to that good samaritan that ran in his boxsers to the Fire Department up the street…and a big thank you to the neighbor that passed out blankets to the Victims…witnessing this on first hand.
I would like to comment on the part where the Red Cross is not much help when tourist are involved. My wife is the DAT captain for Red Cross up here and I am on the team as well. We were asked to go to the meeting at the Lakeside Inn the next morning to make sure that if we were needed, we would be available. At this meeting, Nancy Kerry and the representative from the motel said that everything (nights stay at other motels, clothing and other incidentals) would be taken care of by the motel. I guess, not realizing that it was a little more complicated than that, the Red Cross stepped up and took care of families that were in immediate need. We checked with all the families that were still in the area and assisted those that needed immediate help.
I hope for a quick recovery for those injured, I know Birdwell’s Inn is a very nice place and I’m glad they saved it. It’s not very often that you hear Birdwell say nice things about Public Safety in SLT. I guess it’s one of those things where you don’t like them until you need them. I hope the Deerfield can rebuild because they need some upscale hotels in that area to try to revitalize the Ski Run area. Good job by SLT public safety.
My wife and I were staying at the Deerfield when the fire broke out and we would like to thank a huge number of people.
First, to whoever pounded on our door and raised the alert. The fire was moving fast and there was no other alarm for us.
Second, to the fire department who arrived so quickly. Our room was right next to the breezeway and would surely would not have been spared without your quick response.
To Robert and Deena from the Rock House Ski Rental down the street, who were kind to us and provided me with a shirt, since I didn’t have time to put one on. They also took charge of the bikes we rented overnight and had pulled out of the room to get them back to Todd at Tahoe Beach Cruiser, who drove out at 1 am to pick them up, as we could no longer secure them. Todd comped us the bike rental too!
To the staff at the Deerfield and the city staff who stepped in to arrange alternate lodging for us and answered our questions.
To the people of South Lake Tahoe who stepped up to help. The folks who let us use their phones, as ours were left behind in our room. The next morning when we were at the lodge retrieving the items left in our room, I overheard several people talking to the staff on scene asking how they could help.
I’m sure there are many more. We were not hurt, we saved our car and were able to retrieve everything. We know several staying there lost everything, but are grateful that there was no loss of life.
Thanks South Lake Tahoe! It wasn’t a situation I’d wish on anyone, but you handled it excellently!