One of the buildings of the defunct Hillcrest Motel in Evanston, Wyoming, was destroyed Saturday in an early-morning fire, the latest calamity in what authorities call a saga of about eight fires in three years and a persistent inhabitation by squatters at the motel complex.
The building on the westernmost side of the 3.5-acre complex ignited sometime between 1 and 3 a.m. Saturday, according to accounts from authorities and witnesses.
No squatters were in that building, though five were evacuated from an eastern building, Evanston Police Department Lt. Ken Pearson told Cowboy State Daily in a Saturday phone interview.
That westernmost building wasn’t the same one that caught fire in April, Pearson said.
But the complex has seen around eight fires in the past three years, generally concentrated in the same three problem buildings, he added. Some of the causes of those fires have been linked to tenants smoking in bed, he said.
The cause of Saturday’s fire remains under investigation.
Squatting An Issue
One of the evacuees, William McNeilis, was arrested on suspicion of police interference because he kept trying to get back into his room space during the evacuation, Uinta County Sheriff Andy Kopp confirmed.
Squatting is an issue throughout that section of the town, Police Chief Mike Vranish told Cowboy State Daily.
“We’ve been working with the (motel) owner to try to get the building vacated,” said Vranish.
The motel owner could not be reached for comment by publication time.
The police chief said the occupants had until July 29 to leave the motel, a deadline set by the fire department due to known fire hazards. He said other mechanisms have been in play, such as an ongoing effort to evict the squatters on other grounds.
Buildings belonging to a neighboring, functional, and “nice” hotel were threatened but not damaged by the fire, Vranish said.
One wing of that hotel, the Dunmar Inn, was evacuated, Pearson noted, adding that no one was hurt.
One of the buildings of the defunct Hillcrest Motel in Evanston, Wyoming, was destroyed Saturday in an early-morning fire. It’s the latest in what authorities say has been about eight fires in three years with the persistent squatter inhabitation at the motel complex. (Courtesy Brandon Michael Wilson) 
One of the buildings of the defunct Hillcrest Motel in Evanston, Wyoming, was destroyed Saturday in an early-morning fire. It’s the latest in what authorities say has been about eight fires in three years with the persistent squatter inhabitation at the motel complex. (Courtesy Brandon Michael Wilson)
Burning Hot
Brandon Michael Wilson, of Evanston, was leaving work at about 3 a.m. when he saw the “sky lit up” and a plume of smoke from the area and evacuees standing near the blaze, he told Cowboy State Daily.
Wilson said he knows the wood from that complex to burn hot and fast from his own experience. When a different building in that same area was torn down, Wilson received some of the wood scrap for his own wood-burning fires.
On Saturday morning, “I felt the heat from across the street,” said Wilson.
The Uinta County Fire Protection District did not immediately respond to Cowboy State Daily voicemail requests for comment.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
