Occupants of the Travelodge Hotel in Matteson have until 5pm today to evacuate the premises, leaving them with no where to go in the middle of winter.
The hotel seemingly has several violations that need to be up to code before they can continue operations however they received no warning of the mandatory evacuation prior to.
Hotel manager Amanda Chavez says "The code enforcer, police officers, they came, maybe like six squad cars, kinda scared everybody. Some of them even walked in with a key card that we had gave them just in case and were just entering into rooms, scaring people."
Matteson Fire Chief Michaels Bacon said "At this time, they have four outstanding violations with sprinkler deficiencies, six outstanding violations with their fire alarm system. An example of the current fire alarm system is the notification of the audible and visual alarms on the second and third floors are not working."
The fire department also went on to note that they have several documents spanning over 10 months noting the code and safety violation.
The hotel is working swiftly to get the issues corrected before the deadline today in hopes that people won’t lose shelter. The Matteson police department is also assisting with finding housing for displaced residents.