Blaze scorches Garden Motel

UPDATE: The fire that consumed the main campus of the vacant Garden Motel earlier today has been extinguished.

Approximately 30 firefighters responded to the 8:26 a.m. 9-1-1 call, where they arrived to what was described as a massive blaze.

“We arrived on the scene to a heavy fire,” Coeur d’Alene Fire Department investigator Craig Etherton said. “We immediately went defensive on it, which is to say we fought it from the outside.”

Firefighters tackled the fire for just under six hours before extinguishing the last of the fire. Etherton said no cause has been established at this time, and that the investigation will begin Monday morning. No bystanders or firefighters were injuried.

COEUR d’ALENE - Fire destroyed the Garden Motel this morning, though firefighters still on the scene are dousing the shell of the uninhabited building from a ladder truck.

Authorities haven’t speculated on cause of the blaze at 1808 Northwest Blvd., near the entryway into downtown Coeur d’Alene.

The Garden Motel has made headlines for several years as its owner, Ron Ayers, has tried to raise money for a $14 million, 113-room Marriott Fairfield Inn.

Earlier this year, Ayers said the hotel could open as early as May 2020.

In recent weeks, the old motel was again in the news. City Council member Dan Gookin voiced concerns - countered by Tony Berns, who heads the city’s urban renewal agency - that the property would be included in a future health corridor.

This story will be updated as details become available.

- Mike Patrick