Fires in Joplin hotel restroom under investigation
May 17—A couple of fires Saturday afternoon apparently set in a restroom at the Holiday Inn in Joplin remained under investigation Monday.
Capt. William Davis of the Joplin Police Department said an arson investigation was opened after a report of smoke detected in the men's room of the bar in the Holiday Inn at 1:16 p.m. Saturday brought police and firefighters to the hotel at 3402 S. Arizona Ave.
There was no active fire at the hotel when emergency personnel arrived, Davis said. But police were told that a patron had been seen trying to put a fire out in trash can in the men's room and that an employee later took some charred material from the trash can to an outside disposal bin, he said.
He said firefighters also located some scorched Sheetrock inside a ceiling vent in the restroom.
