1675-1 Lombardy Inn Hotel, 3611 Collins Ave. , Tuesday night. Investigators are calling that fire
accidental.
KEYWORDS: MB FIRE MD
TAG: 8603020876
37 of 60, 2 Terms
mh FIRE-GUTTED HOTEL NOW AMONG SAFEST 06/20/1985
THE MIAMI HERALD
Copyright (c) 1985, The Miami Herald
DATE: Thursday, June 20, 1985 EDITION: FINAL 66
SECTION: NEIGHBORS MB PAGE: 3 LENGTH: 47 lines
ILLUSTRATION: photo: Anita Barone outside the LOMBARDY INN MOTEL
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: DEBBIE SONTAG Herald Staff Writer
FIRE-GUTTED HOTEL NOW AMONG SAFEST
The smell of smoke lingers faintly in the lobby. But the Lombardy Inn
Motel, scene of a deadly fire Dec. 6, is now open again, and safer than almost
any other hotel in Miami Beach, according to Jack Richardson, city fire
inspector.
"Unfortunately it usually takes an accident for hazards to be corrected, "
Richardson said Tuesday. "The Lombardy firetrap has taken an amazing quantum
leap forward. "
After five months and a $150,000 renovation, the 66-unit motel at 6305
Collins Ave. reopened June 1, secured with up-to- the-minute fire detection
equipment.
So far the Lombardy's old guests, most of whom were yearly tenants, have
not come flocking back to the 37-year-old building, which last December had no
fire alarms whatsoever.
Anita Barone, 70, a dance instructor at the Casablanca Hotel, is one of
seven people who have moved into the Lombardy in the last few weeks.
"I'm not afraid, " she said. "It happens tt all the hotels. They all get
burned. Fires are a fact of life. "
At 1 a.m. Dec. 6, flames spiraled through the Lombardy, injuring 12
guests and killing 75-year-old tenant Ruth Russell. The north hallway of the
two-story motel was gutted. Insurersestimated there was $175,000 worth of
damage, said motel owner Phyllis Marando.
Beach fire authorities found that the motel not only lacked alarms, but
contained hazardous wood slat doors, which catch and spread fire easily.
Alarms have been required on the Beach and wood slat doors outlawed since
1967.
Now, in a lobby still under renovation, the 66 old orange mailboxes
behind the front desk have a new neighbor: a bright red metal alarm box
labeled "Fire Watch I."
The slats of the louvered room doors are blocked with sheet rock. Smoke
separation doors in the halls are set to fly shut if the alarm goes off. And
hard-wire smoke detectors, positioned at 30-foot intervals, are connected to
an alarm system.
"We have to make our reputation all over again. A lot of guests got
scared off, " Marando said.
Not Florence Shapley, 63. She returned to her old room.
"My rent for the year was paid, " she said. "I guess if ,they want to give
it back to me, I could leave. They have safety things. I'm not so scared."