Fire Chief: Fire at former Days Inn declared arson

BRIDGEPORT TWP., Mich. (WNEM) – Fire crews from multiple agencies responded to a fire at the former Days Inn hotel on Dixie Highway near I-75.

On Tuesday, Feb. 7, just before 6 p.m., multiple fire agencies were called to a fire at a former Days Inn hotel in Bridgeport Township.

TV5 was told that crews had been called in from Frankenmuth, Birch Run, Buena Vista, and Spaulding Townships.

The Bridgeport Township Fire Chief said he arrived to see heavy smoke coming from the fourth floor of the building, and flames began showing from the third floor.

“It is declared arson because we had multiple unconnected rooms that fires were set, so the Michigan State Police Fire Investigation Unit will be coming to investigate,” said Fire Chief David Smigiel.

Smigiel said the building was in the process of being refurbished.

He said its owners had submitted plans to renovate it for a new business, and that the fire likely will not hinder those plans because it is mainly a concrete structure.

“The structure itself is not damaged by any of these fires. It was pretty much contents: old beds and chairs and furniture from the old hotel days,” Smigiel said.

This was the second fire in the building in less than a month.

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