Iowa House Hotel closed after utility room fire

UPDATE: The Iowa House Hotel on the University of Iowa campus is closed this morning after a fire in a utility closet.

Firefighters responded around 2:30 a.m. Thursday to an alarm at the hotel, 15 W. Jefferson St., adjacent to the Iowa Memorial Union, and found fire on the fourth floor. Battalion Chief Dan Smith said smoke was found in the hotel and the adjoining IMU when the first crew arrived. He said the fire was quickly controlled.

Thirty-three rooms at the hotel had to be evacuated. Those people were sent to other hotels. No one was injured.

The fire damage was confined to the utility closet, but water damaged four floors where the fire started and below, Smith said. The cause of the fire has not been determined.

There is no word yet on how soon the Iowa House Hotel will reopen.

NOTE: A previous version of this story indicated the Iowa Memorial Union was closed this morning. That information was incorrect.