Historic Idaho hotel now rubble after massive fire
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KELLOGG — Only a shell remains of the McConnell Hotel in Kellogg after a massive fire gutted the building Tuesday afternoon.
The fire started shortly before 3 p.m. and sent Shoshone County fire crews scrambling to battle the flames erupting out of the building.
“Flames sky high all the way to the roof and it was just funneling like a volcano,” said Kellogg resident Johnny Fenton Wollaston.
Now all that remains of the hotel is rubble. The fire gutted the building and crews are calling it a total loss.
Kellogg resident Simon Miller captured video using a drone camera which shows the severity of the fire.
“It’s a shame to see that loss,” said Kjell Truesdell of Shoshone County Fire District #2.
Flying embers spread in all directions, some landing on Patrick’s Inn and Steakhouse a few blocks east. Later on, another business next to the hotel also caught fire.
Shoshone County fire crews worked as hard as they could and relied on help from several other agencies to keep the flames from spreading further. The front side of the McConnell Hotel eventually collapsed.
For John Webb, a 16-year-old reporter for KWAL in Osburn, it’s his biggest story to date.
“Never seen anything like this before,” Webb said. “It was crazy.”
As of Tuesday night, Shoshone County fire crews are still on scene making sure hot piles of debris don’t spark any other fires.
No major injuries were reported during the fire, although one police officer was taken to the hospital for heat exhaustion.
The cause of the fire is unknown.
This article was originally published by fellow CNN affiliate KXLY. It is used here with permission.