A 31-year-old woman is in police custody after a fire broke out at a Cairns quarantine hotel early on Sunday morning, forcing the evacuation of more than 160 people.
Photo: AFP
Chief Superintendent Chris Hodgman said a crime scene has been established and police expect to charge the woman with several offences, including arson.
"We've put our top investigators looking at the matter and we currently have a 31-year-old female resident in custody at the Cairns watch house," he said.
Superintendent Hodgman said there had been previous police issues involving the woman, who had been at the facility for a "couple of days" after arriving from interstate.
"We did have some issues with that female occupant that we were managing," he said.
Investigations are continuing into how the fire started.
More than 130 rooms evacuated
Hotel staff and emergency services evacuated 163 people who had been staying in 132 rooms at the hotel "in a matter of minutes".
Superintendent Hodgman paid tribute to staff at the Pacific Hotel for their management of the situation.
"Without their assistance that could have been a different outcome and they did a magnificent job getting people out of the hotel," he said.
The people evacuated are being hosted at "another premises".
Queensland's acting Chief Health Officer Peter Aitken said options for a more permanent place are being examined.
He said the officials are assessing damage to the hotel and are yet to determine if some people can remain there.
Other options include moving them to the other quarantine hotel in Cairns or transferring them to Brisbane.
Residents of a Cairns hotel quarantine facility have been forced to evacuate this morning after a fire erupted.
— 9News Queensland (@9NewsQueensland) November 28, 2021
No injuries were reported, however, a 31-year-old woman has been charged following initial investigations into the blaze. #9News
Full details: https://t.co/9UHNrzcWTR pic.twitter.com/ssOcZGcd1w
"We're well practised in [this] and we've exercised this actual scenario. So, the staff were well aware of what they needed to do to evacuate the people," Dr Aitken said.
He said it was "too early" to know whether the hotel can be used for quarantine purposes in the future, as it appeared to have suffered "significant damage".
Superintendent Hodgman said police are focused on the welfare of those evacuated.
"It's been quite traumatic for some of those people, so that's our focus at the moment," he said.
"They've got all their worldly belongings with them in the rooms, so we need to get that back to them as best we can … imagine being woken up at seven o'clock with this incident on a Sunday morning."
- ABC
