“…(the cord) was stuck under the lamp and wore out after a while…friction likely caused the shorted cord to 
ignite, and sparks caused the carpet to catch on fire, which then spread to a couch and the wall…”
Starkville Fire Department officials confirmed the cause of a fire Thursday that destroyed the interior of a hotel room at Americas Best Value Inn & Suites on Miss. Highway 12 as electrical. SFD Training Officer Charles Yarbrough said he concluded in his investigation that the fire was started by a short in a lamp cord.
On Thursday, a shift manager at the hotel said she called 911 after a customer came into the lobby and said he saw smoke emitting from the back of the building. The manager, who refused to be identified, said neither the room where the fire took place nor any nearby rooms were occupied at the time the smoke was first reported and there was no one in the vicinity of the fire.
Yarbrough said everything in the room, from the furnishings to the walls would have to be replaced, but said the hotel’s structural integrity was satisfactory as the rooms were designed to contain and isolate fires.
For more:Â http://www.starkvilledailynews.com/node/13339
