Guests evacuated after fire at North Yorkshire hotel (From York Press)

Guests evacuated after fire at North Yorkshire hotel

9:43am Saturday 22nd September 2012 in News By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

Firefighters tackled a blaze last night at a North Yorkshire hotel.

The fire in a chimney at the Kings Head Hotel in High Market Place, Kirkbymoorside, destroyed the stack, said a spokeswoman for North Yorkshire fire and Rescue Service.

She said a small area of floor in a first-floor bedroom to which the flames had spread was also damaged.

Crews went to the scene from Kirkbymoorside and Helmsley after the service was called out at 10.17pm, and an aerial ladder platform was also brought over from Scarborough to assist in the operation. No one was injured, she added.

Hotel manager Stephen Brown said all guests were swiftly evacuated in accordance with procedures after alarms had been activated, but were later able to return to their rooms. The hotel was operating normally again today, with just the fire-damaged bedroom temporarily out of use.

He said the room had been unoccupied at the time.

He said he had only taken over at the hotel eight weeks ago and problems had built up in the chimney prior to his arrival which had led to the fire.