Fire damages hotel

FORT STOCKTON A large fire gutted part of a Fort Stockton hotel and cut off utilities to an apartment complex, displacing 10 of its residents late Thursday, Fort Stockton volunteer Fire Chief Melvin Thomas said.

The Texan Inn, formerly known as Sands Motor Inn at 1801 W. Dickinson Blvd., lost several rooms in the blaze, while a storage building and some stairs from Greentree Apartments were also damaged.

Police Chief Juan Castro said police and volunteer firefighters came to the fire after it was reported at about 11:15 p.m. Thursday.

No injuries were reported from the blaze, but Greentree's utilities were cut off in the fire. Castro said the Red Cross and the First Baptist Church in Fort Stockton opened shelters for the apartment dwellers who were evacuated.

The city was trying to restore the gas to the complex while a company was repairing the cable services Friday, Castro said. He didn't know when the utilities would be restored.

Fortunately, Castro said little shelter space was actually needed.

"The residents of that apartment complex are local, so they have next of kin where they can go or friends where they can go until the complex can be restored," he said.

Thomas said he thinks the fire was caused by an electrical problem at the inn.