WATERTOWN — A fire at a Route 11 motel earlier this month that resulted in four officers rescuing a man inside has been deemed accidental by investigators.
Joseph D. Plummer, director of the Jefferson County Office of Fire and Emergency Management, said the Jan. 11 fire at the Relax Inn just outside the city limits on Route 11 was apparently started after a clothes iron was left on and came in contact with nearby combustibles, causing the fire.
Robert Murphy, 55, had been staying at the hotel for about a week. He said he doesn’t remember anything between getting home at about 8 p.m., then four days later when he woke up from a medically induced coma.
Mr. Murphy was found semi-conscious inside the hotel room by four officers, Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies Christian D. Hughes and Deputy Nick P. Curtiss, and state troopers Sean A. Illes and Joseph R. Fay.
Mr. Murphy was dragged out before being taken to Upstate Medical University, Syracuse. He is still recovering in a hospital.
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