Arson Investigation Into Hendersonville Inn Fire;  Building Being Demolished

**Tuesday September 29, 2009**
Hendersonville Police are treating a fire that injured six people at the Caldwell Inn in Hendersonville as arson investigation. Chris Leroy from the police department says crews used backhoes to demolish a portion of the Caldwell Inn on Monday. Tuesday morning crews were working to demolish the rest of the building.

Investigators say they have questioned a person of interest twice and have made no arrests.  The police department still has many more people to interview and area waiting on evidence to be processed and for tests to be done.

**Thursday 11:05am Update**

Hendersonville police confirm they do have a person of interest in the fire at a boarding house.

News Channel 7’s Elizabeth Owens reports officials were called to the Caldwell Inn around 7:00am Thursday morning, where residents rent rooms by the week or month.

Two police officers - who were about a block away at the time of the fire - are being called heroes for saving at least two people from the building.

Fire officials believe a total of six people escaped the building. They don’t believe anyone else was inside the hotel at the time, but they will conduct a search after it is safe to enter the hotel.

All six people who were injured were taken to a hospital for treatment. Some of the injuries are believed to be serious as all the survivors had to jump from the hotel to the concrete on the street.

A rescue mission across the street believes as many as 22 people were staying at the hotel.

Firefighters are at the scene of a fire at the Caldwell Inn in Hendersonville.

Our coverage partners at The Hendersonville Times-News report four or five people were hurt trying to escape the building.

Crews were called to the scene at 719 Maple Street in the Historic Seventh Avenue District.

The Times-News reports it was not known what caused the fire but investigators were focusing on what happened in a first floor room where the fire originated.

“The room next door was on fire,“ said L.J. Jennings, who has been staying in the first floor room for about four weeks. He got out in time to see the second floor residents jumping from the balcony to the sidewalk below.

“Five of them came off that balcony,“ said Jennings. He said he thought about 12 people lived in the hotel.

Firefighters from Hendersonville, Valley Hill and Blue Ridge responded to the fire, along with Henderson County EMS and the Rescue Squad according to The Times-News.

Several organizations responded quickly to the fire.

The Rescue Mission two blocks away provided blankets, orange juice and sausage biscuits to the hotel tenants who had congregated outside the burning building.

(Photo courtesy Hendersonville Times-News)

The Times-News reports the building was fully engulfed in flames by the time emergency crews arrived.

News Channel 7 has a crew on the way to the scene and will update this story.

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