The fire started around midnight at the Comfort Suites on /*Corporation Parkway*/. No one was hurt.
"It was just time to get up out of there! Everybody was running around, beating on the door and saying' the hotel's on fire!' So it was time to get on out of there," said Edward Warner, a /*Comfort Suites*/ guest.
Firefighters believe it started outside the building.
"There were some dry areas right below, right outside the main entrance near a smoking stand, we feel confident there were discarded combustibles," /*Raleigh Fire Department*/ Chief H.F. Warner said.
The lobby and two rooms above it suffered the most damage. Rest of the hotel was filled with a smoke odor.
"And then the fire alarm went off, so we looked outside the window and they had flames out here, on the outside of the hotel room. So we got out of there and just came downstairs," Warner said.
Guests forced to leave temporarily are happy people inside acted quickly to spread word of the flames out front.
