SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Illinois State Representative Joyce Mason said she and her dog were fast asleep in her 17th-floor room at the Wyndham Springfield City Centre when something felt off Thursday morning.
It was the behavior of her dog, Twix, that tipped her off something was wrong.
“He started pawing at me, putting his face in mine,” Mason told WAND News. “He just kept doing it.”
That moment of intuition led her to leash up Twix and head toward the elevators—only to find none of them working. As she started to wake up, she heard water pouring down the elevator shafts and noticed the carpet beneath her feet was soaked. She decided to call the front desk.
“I was really surprised when she said, ‘oh yeah, we had a fire on the 25th floor.'”
WAND News reached out to the Springfield Fire Department who said firefighters did not respond to a fire at the hotel.
The Wyndham Springfield City Centre told WAND News, “No comment”.
Mason said there had been no fire alarm, no emergency alerts and no staff knocking on doors.
Mason, who represents Illinois’ 61st District, was one of several lawmakers still staying in Springfield following a shortened legislative session. She remained in town to meet with local firefighters attending a conference.
“They told me all elevators—including the freight—were down. I asked, ‘Are we talking a couple hours or a couple days?’ And the answer was: ‘I have no idea,’” she said.
Left without clear instructions, Mason packed her laptop, hoisted her dog, and walked down 17 flights of stairs. She wasn’t alone. On the way down, she passed others trudging up and down the stairwell, trying to retrieve belongings or figure out what was going on.
Mason told WAND News she reached out to other lawmakers who she knew stayed at the hotel. Like her, many said they were left in the dark about what was going on.
“People had no idea. There were senators who didn’t even know something had happened,” she said. “Some of them have rooms booked out for months.”
She’s also worried about people who are older who can’t use the stairs to get up and down.
Sue Scherer State Representative of the 96th District said constituents reached out to her about the displacement.
Scherer said, “”It’s not just the reps and senators, its the lobbyists, its the people that work at all of these businesses that do extra during session. The list just goes on and on.”
WAND News has reached out to Wyndham Springfield City Centre and local emergency officials for more information. At the time of this report, no official statement has been released, and multiple inquiries have gone unanswered.
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