Howard Johnson Motel Fire remembered 30 years later in Bowling Green

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – 30 years after flames tore through the Howard Johnson motel on the 31-W Bypass, killing four people, firefighters in Bowling Green say the night of Jan. 6, 1996, still feels close enough to touch.

The fire broke out just after 1 a.m. on a bitterly cold, snowy night, with temperatures in the 20s. At the time, 75 guests were staying inside the motel, which featured an open atrium design that investigators said helped the fire spread quickly through a tiki-style structure inside.

Four people died from smoke inhalation and more than a dozen others were injured, making it one of the deadliest fires in the city’s history. Among the responders was Todd Napier, then a young firefighter and now an investigative specialist, who said it was the first truly massive fire he ever worked.

“It was one of those large fires, a lot of volume of fire,” Napier said. “Being an open atrium with a wooden roof, it burned through pretty quick, and there was just a lot of flames and smoke showing.”

“For me, it really created an awareness level of how fast and how quick a fire can get out of hand,” he said. “And with four fatalities, it really heightened my internal drive to become a better firefighter and educate myself more.”

Investigators later determined the fire was arson. Two men were sentenced to life in prison for starting the blaze, and a third suspect fled the country. Napier said that even three decades later, what stays with firefighters most is not the court case, it is the lives that were lost and the lessons that changed the department forever.