Good Samaritan's quick action prevents spread of fire at Durham hotel

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- A man is being credited with helping save guests at a Durham hotel after a fire broke out Monday morning.

"God put me here for a reason," Joshua Davis said. "I did what I had to do, and I'm glad everybody's safe."

Davis said he just did what was needed after hearing smoke alarms go off inside of the Extended Stay America, located on Miami Boulevard, around 1:42 a.m.

"I saw everybody running and said, 'We got to get out of here.'"

But then, on the way out, he noticed something scary involving room 116.

"The door was closed and smoke was coming out," he explained. "I asked if anybody was in there and they said 'I don't know.' So I kicked the door in. When I went in there, I saw the fire coming out of the wall. I went and found the fire extinguisher, put it out and hit the breaker box."

Davis said the hotel had just moved a woman out of the room an hour before.

Durham firefighters saw guests evacuating the hotel when they arrived after getting a call about an electrical fire.

They confirm the fire was confined to room 116, which sustained extensive damage inside. A nearby mechanical room also sustained damage.

"I've been through fire alarms before on vacation and thought it was another one of them," Bryan Pietz, one of the guests who left in a hurry when notified of the situation, said. "But when we saw the smoke coming out of mechanical room we thought 'Wow, something's going on.'"

After checking the walls and areas near the affected room and making sure there were no other flames, fire authorities allowed hotel guests and staff to return to the building around 3:15 a.m.

The cause of the fire is still undetermined. No one was hurt.