OVFD responds to report of fire at Lakeside Casino

Osceola Volunteer Fire Department responded to reports of a smoke alarm and visible smoke 9:23 p.m. Saturday at Lakeside Casino.

According to an OVFD report, Engine 32 left the station with 7 responding firefighters. Once on site, firefighters observed heavy smoke in the main lobby and were told by security that a support pillar was smoking. The crew went to the casino floor to where the possible source is located.

Murray and Woodburn were paged to provide mutual aid. The Clarke County Ambulance crew helped evacuate the hotel due to smoke pushing through the HVAC system. Once Osceola Police arrived, OVFD asked for their assistance in helping evacuate the casino floor and to make sure to get everyone out of the building. OVFD then notified Clarke County dispatch to disregard Murray and Woodburn assistance.

Captain Bryant Schiltz and a team of four firefighters overhauled the pillar and used a water can to extinguish the pillar. Schiltz utilized a thermal camera to identify any hot spots and did not locate any more areas of concern. He then told the firefighters that they needed to air out the building to investigate further.

Simpson reported that the fire alarm panel was reset and showed a message: MAIN FIRE PANEL NO FIRE ALARM, NO PRIORITY 2 ALARM, HAVE SUPERVISOR TROUBLE ON PANEL, BUT NO FIRE ON PANEL. The casino was notified that they need to keep fire watch until the alarm company can fix their system.

A woman was taken via ambulance for chest pains, but it is unknown if it was related to the incident.