Workers remove debris from the Siena Hotel (Henry Taylor/Chapel Hill Media Group)
The Chapel Hill Fire Department recently provided additional insight into the August fire at the Siena Hotel via a detailed incident report. The NFIRS report, or National Fire Incident Reporting System, revealed the hotel’s sprinkler system was shut off during the incident and more than $600,000 in property was lost.
According to Chapel Hill Police, the fire began at 4:30 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 22, after being started by Randy Bullock, a hotel employee. He was found deceased shortly after noon, with first responders locating his remains on the hotel’s third floor. Now, the fire department has publicized more details on how exactly those eight hours played out.
Initially designated as a reported structure fire, the incident began with first responders locating “a fire in the first-floor lobby involving both elevators.” Each elevator had been filled with luggage carts containing various items which acted as kindling. There was another small fire across from the elevators in the lobby, as well as fires in the kitchen and burning laundry machines in the laundry room. As first responders soon found out though, the fires weren’t the only threat in the hotel.
“While crews were checking for fire extension in the lobby, a CHFD officer approached the command post and stated that he received a report of a person running up the stairs in the building carrying ‘long knives and a gun,’” said Officer in Charge and Battalion Chief Justin Lanning in the NFIRS report. “I relayed that information to crews on TAC 2 and initiated an emergency retreat and repeated the information on OPS 2 to Communications.”
After first responders determined there was an armed individual in the building, any firefighters reentering were accompanied by a police escort.
The report states the hotel’s AES, or automatic extinguishing system, “did not operate” because it was shut off. It does not state whether Bullock himself was the one to deactivate the system. Smoke detectors and fire successfully alerted residents and prompted an immediate evacuation of the hotel, but they had issues as well. The report states that the building’s main fire alarm panel was “not functioning correctly with nothing visible on the LCD display and no audible devices sounding on the first floor.”
A separate narrative from Lieutenant W. Jordan recounted how entrances and exits to the hotel had been purposefully blocked at the time of the fire.
“Engine 33 noticed that the rear exit doors of the lobby had a broomstick through the door handle, also on the outside of the door, looking out from the elevator lobby. Engine 33 started pulling ceiling to check for extension when Engine 31 arrived to help with overhaul. Shortly after this point, we were called out of the structure due to a possible armed subject in the building.”
One detail that caused confusion on the day of the fire were reports from law enforcement that they had located an individual in the building, but they didn’t know whether it was the suspect or not. Lanning’s narrative clarified this part of the incident.
“CHPD officers noted a person in the window on the fourth floor, A-side. The person wasn’t responding to commands and matched the description of the suspect,” he said. “CHPD next requested the use of Ladder 72 to make contact with the suspect on the fourth floor. In doing so, it was determined that the person was not a suspect and had failed to evacuate. The person was removed from the balcony and to the ground via Ladder 72’s aerial device.”
The fire did result in two injuries, but neither were life threatening. One of the injured individuals received treatment at UNC Hospitals while a Chapel Hill transit bus moved hotel guests away from the scene.
The report did not detail the discovery of Randy Bullock’s remains. Bullock was a well-known figure in Chapel Hill’s local music scene in the 1990s, serving as program director at WXYC radio and co-operated the local music label Jesus Christ Records.
“This is a sad day for us, and we extend empathy to all families and guests and community members that were affiliated or involved,” said Chapel Hill Police Chief Celisa Lehew at a press conference the day of the fire.
The Chapel Hill Fire Department’s investigation officially concluded on Sep. 26, 2025, and the Chapel Hill Police Department’s criminal investigation into the incident is on-going. As of Dec. 11, The Siena Hotel has not announced an official reopening date, and declined to provide Chapelboro with a comment.
Featured image via Chapel Hill Media Group/Henry Taylor
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