Body cam footage shows initial response to large Vandalia motel fire

Newly released body cam footage details the events following the three-alarm fire that collapsed the roof of the Super 8 Motel in Vandalia Sunday morning.

News Center 7 received around three and a half minutes of body cam video from the Vandalia Police Department.

The footage shows firefighters and officers knocking on doors, looking for anyone who might still be in the building.

“I checked the third floor. There are some rooms like these that have the curtains (closed), but I’d say most of them have been cleared out,” one officer can be heard saying on the video.

Throughout the video, the new fire alarm system that Vandalia Fire Chief Chad Follick said was ‘key’ in making sure no one lost their lives can be heard.

“Some of them have their curtains closed, and most people that have left have their doors open,” an officer said to two firefighters while evacuating the building.

In both videos, you can see the flames and smoke coming from the roof of the building.

Multiple fire departments responded to the Super 8 Motel on National Road at 4:15 a.m. Sunday morning on initial reports of a fire alarm but discovered flames and smoke coming from the third floor.

Shortly after they got on scene, a small section of the roof over the pool and drive-thru collapsed.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.