Superintendent Tom Cooper, from Fire and Rescue NSW, said the fire was intense but about 12 people, including long-term lodgers and backpackers, were able to escape. Firefighters outside the Lansdowne Hotel. Credit:Wolter Peeters Sabrina Valise, who lives at the hotel, said she woke to find flames on the balcony outside her room. But in the minute it took her to get some water to try to put out the fire, the flames had taken off. "By the time I got back it had spread across the balcony," she said. "I started running up and down the corridor banging on doors to wake everyone up." Annie Reardon, who has lived at the hotel for 10 months, said she was woken by Ms Valise knocking on her door and ran outside.

‘‘I don’t know if I’ve lost anything, because we can’t go back inside yet,’’ she said. Fire fighters contain a building fire at the Lansdowne Hotel in Broadway on Friday morning. Credit:Wolter Peeters ‘‘I didn’t make it to work today.’’ Another lodger, who asked not to be named, said firefighters were on the scene within minutes. Smoke emerges from the Lansdowne Hotel in Broadway on Friday morning. Credit:Wolter Peeters

"They came immediately and everyone got out. That’s the best thing, everyone is okay,’’ she said. Superintendent Collins said he could not confirm reports that a small piece of cardboard had been deliberately set alight on the balcony. I started running up and down the corridor banging on doors to wake everyone up. Fire officers searched every room in the building, but found no one. ‘‘The fire is believed to have started in the balcony area on the third level and quickly smoke clogged the upper levels. There were reports that people were trapped,’’ he said.

‘‘[Firefighters] mounted an aggressive offensive attack, went up through the fire escape ... and quickly dealt with the fire. ‘‘You can see from the building behind me that there has been a large amount of smoke here. This is what happens when soft furnishings, such as bedding, pillows and mattresses, catch alight. If you were on that floor when this fire broke out, it would have been very difficult to get your bearings.’’ He said there was no suggestion that the blaze was sparked by a fault in the building. ‘‘Building codes have very stringent rules for accommodation, particularly backpackers like this, after we had some terrible tragedies in the 1980s,’’ he said. Two of three southbound lanes on City Road were blocked by emergency services when the fire broke out, and motorists were asked to avoid the area. However, all lanes reopened just before 10am.

Fire investigators will examine the hotel on Friday to determine the cause of the blaze.



