Update: Two-Alarm Motel Fire Displaces Families

A fire sparked in one room of the National 9 Motel just before dawn Monday, igniting a two-alarm fire that left 13 people homeless and caused massive damage to the motel, authorities reported.

The blaze was first reported in Room 18 of the motel, at 1 Western Dr., around 5:55 a.m. Twenty-eight firefighters from seven fire departments responded. The flames were put out about five to seven minutes after PG&E cut power to the property, according to Watsonville Fire Battalion Chief Bob Martin Del Campo.

"The smoke and flames were going so fast that it started charring the outside of other rooms," he said. Five or six rooms were damaged in total.

No one was injured, authorities said.

Fire investigators determined the blaze ignited at the foot of the bed in Room 18, though the cause of the fire has not been determined, Martin Del Campo said.

A burnt odor still hung in the air outside the gutted motel mid-morning Monday. The charred, fire hose-soaked remains of mattresses and chairs were piled in the parking lot. A hole gaped in the roof of the motel room where the fire started.

The son of the motel owner was out with an insurance adjuster and work crews ready to get started on salvaging the motel. They joked about reopening in two days, though it was obvious the property will need a massive overhaul before it reopens.

Damage was estimated at $250,000. Seven rooms will need repairs; two of them were badly damaged.

The single-story salmon pink motel has 20 rooms. The owner's son said he wasn't sure how many people were staying at the motel when the fire broke out. All of the inhabited rooms were evacuated.

But 13 people from three families were left homeless. The Santa Cruz County Chapter of the American Red Cross is helping them 11 of them with housing; two others went to stay with relatives, according to Martin Del Campo.

The fire brought back memories of the Stag Hotel fire in April, which damaged a historic residential motel near downtown. One man died and nearly 20 others were injured in the fire, which left more than 50 people homeless. Some of those men briefly stayed at the National 9 Motel, the owner's son said.