Woman arrested after fire at Plantation Inn

Bayou Vista and Berwick firefighters responded to a fire in a Plantation Inn room in Bayou Vista Tuesday morning.
Bayou Vista firefighter Josh Ashley said the 11:45 a.m. fire started in Room 110, destroying the room’s contents and causing moderate damage to the room.
Kitrena Spivey, a neighbor living adjacent to the hotel property, said she was in her back yard when she saw black smoke billowing above the hotel.
“It was huge, like above the building,” Spivey said.
At first she said she thought someone’s car had overheated, but then realized the amount of smoke was too great.
When she walked around her fence she said “you could see it just pouring out of there,” Spivey said.
Neighbors with fire extinguishers intervened to battle the blaze, she added.
“There were people with fire extinguishers way before the fire department came. There were people in that bottom (room) … they were trying to run in and, I guess, grab stuff and come out. Leaving out they were coughing,” Spivey said.
Traci Landry, St. Mary Sheriff”s Office spokeswoman, said the department received the call about the fire at 11:51 a.m. While on the complaint, they arrested Brenda Lee Randle, 52, of the 100 block of Hendricks Street in Patterson for possession of drug paraphernalia.
Landry said she did not know who the room was registered to, but said Randle was “associated with the room.” Randle was found in possession of a crack pipe, Landry said.
Randle was released on a summons, Landry said.
The origin and cause remain under investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s Office and the sheriff’s deputies.