Guests Describe California Hotel Inferno - Firehouse.com News

Guests Describe California Hotel Inferno - Firehouse.com News: "

SAN DIEGO --

Guests staying at a Hilton described to NBC 7/39 the raging fire that woke them in the middle of the night in Sorrento Valley.

Firefighters were called to the fire at a construction site in the 11000 block of Vista Sorrento Parkway just before 2 a.m., fire officials said. An unoccupied addition to the Hilton Homewood Suites hotel was engulfed in flames when they arrived.

The fire did millions of dollars in damage to the hotel and the addition. Salt Lake City resident Ken Lund, who was staying overnight with his family, photographed the fire as the flames grew.

'I thought it was a nightmare,' said Lund.

'All of a sudden, I felt intense heat in the room,' said Sherry Lund. 'I woke up and our room was glowing orange.... I screamed and woke him up, and we yelled at our kids and ran. You could hear the window popping.'

The fire threatened the occupied portion of the hotel and surrounding apartments, so firefighters evacuated between 350 and 400 people, San Diego Fire Department spokesman Maurice Luque said.

'The difficulties initially were just with the evacuation, because there were a number of structures that were being affected by the heat, the fire and the smoke of the fire,' Luque said. 'There were a number of people that had"