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Hotel In Dunmore Shut Down Until Further Notice

DUNMORE — Inspectors found violations at a hotel evacuated over the weekend because of a carbon monoxide scare. The Best Western Plus hotel in Dunmore is ...
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DUNMORE -- Inspectors found violations at a hotel evacuated over the weekend because of a carbon monoxide scare.

The Best Western Plus hotel in Dunmore is shut down and it's not known when or if the hotel will be open again, one day after a carbon monoxide leak forced out guests on Sunday.

An inspection reveals all sorts of other problems.

That carbon monoxide leak sent 24 people to the hospital Sunday morning. One of them is still getting treatment for CO poisoning.

Building inspectors were here for hours on Monday looking for the leak's source. They also found other codes violations, leading Dunmore borough officials to shut down the hotel until further notice.

A sign outside the Best Western Hotel in Dunmore says "due to unforeseen circumstances" the hotel will be closed for 72 hours. But, building inspectors and fire marshals think it will be longer than that.

An inspection of the building found more codes violations than Dunmore borough officials expected when they went in to find the source of a carbon monoxide leak.

Inspectors think a furnace and pool heater could have been leaking the poisonous gas for days.

"For as big as the building is, it took a lot of time for that to accumulate," said building inspector William Fiorini.

One hotel guest passed out from CO poisoning Sunday morning. She's still in a hospital in Philadelphia.

In all, 24 guests were checked out for carbon monoxide poisoning.

"What happened yesterday was very unfortunate and thank goodness no one was seriously injured. But, it gives us a proactive approach to put some measures in place to inspect these multi dwellings to insure that this wouldn't happen," said Dunmore borough manager Vito Ruggiero.

Ruggiero says inspectors found a "copious" amount of codes violations in the hotel. It may take a week to go through them all.

Officials were most concerned about fixing the source of the leak and adding sprinklers in the hotel. Inspectors believe there are not enough.

There were not any carbon monoxide detectors either but those aren't required by law.

"It opens your eyes now to a different perspective when you walk in places," Ruggiero said.

Borough officials and building inspectors were a little surprised that the violations they found were not found in a state building inspection which is required every year.

The borough is now trying to track down when the last state inspection took place.

We spoke to the hotel's bookkeeper who told us the owners are working on fixing the violations as quickly as possible.

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