DALE LEZON
Houston Chronicle
Reprinted with Permission

Work crews renovating a hotel on the Katy Freeway accidentally sparked a 3-alarm fire that caused a traffic jam this morning, according to the Houston Fire Department.


The workers were using a torch on the second floor of the Travel Lodge hotel on the south side of Interstate 10 near Silber when sparks apparently fell into a hole in the floor around 9 a.m., authorities said.
The sparks ignited the first-floor ceiling.

Firefighters doused the flames in less than an hour and no one was hurt.