Queens high school students return home after DC hotel catches fire
LONG ISLAND CITY (WABC) -- A school trip to Washington D.C. turned into a dash for safety after the hotel students were staying in caught on fire.
About 100 Junior ROTC students from Aviation High School were on a field trip near Alexandria Virginia when at 2 a.m. the Quality Inn Suites hotel they were staying in caught fire.
The students, who made up half of the guests at the hotel, had to evacuate. More than half of them lost all of their belongings in the fire. Red Cross was on hand in Virginia to help the kids.
Parents nerves were high after getting calls from their children early in the morning about what had happened. One parent said they heard bangs and screaming and thought it was a joke.
No students were injured in the fire.
Eyewitness News talked to the students' teacher, who said when they were evacuated, they took it upon themselves to get into groups, huddle, and do their own head counts to make sure everyone made it out of the hotel safely.
