SAN DIEGO (Mission Valley) — A late-night fire lit up the side of the Marriott Hotel in Mission Valley on Wednesday night, sending hundreds of guests into the street as flames climbed several stories up the building’s southwest corner.
San Diego Fire-Rescue crews were dispatched just before midnight to the Marriott at 8757 Rio San Diego Drive, where arriving engines encountered heavy fire spreading vertically along the exterior from the third to the eighth floors.
At least 100 firefighters and support personnel were called in to battle the blaze, including multiple truck companies, investigators, and urban search-and-rescue units.
Guests poured out of the building, many still in pajamas and carrying luggage. One guest told SD Slackers he woke up to find his own room filled with smoke before evacuating. Another said she was awakened by police knocking on her door, with her two dogs barking as they fled.
SDFD Fire Captain and Information Officer Jason Shanley said the fire was confined to the exterior.
“It appears to be an exterior-only fire that extended from the third floor to the eighth floor, no interior at this time,” Shanley said. “The fire is extinguished. One person is being treated for a non-life-threatening injury… we plan to be here for another two hours.”
Fire investigators are working to determine how the blaze started.
