They escaped the burning room before firefighters arrived, according to Fire Chief Steve Hergenreter. He said both were taken by ambulance to UnityPoint Health -Trinity Regional Medical Center.

The fire at the hotel along U.S. Highway 169 was reported at 10:24 a.m.

Firefighters found the building’s corridors filled with heavy smoke when they arrived. They forced entry into the burning room, located on the first floor on the building’s north side.

”The whole thing was engulfed,” Hergenreter said.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea A Fort Dodge firefighter cleans up broken glass following a fire at the Quality Inn on U.S. Highway 169 Friday morning.

”We got the fire knocked down very quickly and kept the fire from spreading throughout the building,” he added.

Firefighters also entered the rooms above the burning room and on either side of it to check for people who may have been overcome by smoke. No one was in any of those rooms.

A child playing with a lighter started the fire, Hergenreter said.

The room suffered heavy fire damage, and there was smoke damage throughout the building, the chief said.

The hotel does not have a sprinkler system because it was built before they were required, according to Hergenreter. The hotel was built in 1971, according to online records of the Webster County Assessor’s Office.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea Fort Dodge firefighters work at the Quality Inn on U.S. Highway 169 after extinguishing a fire there Friday morning. A woman and a child suffered smoke inhalation in the blaze, which gutted one room of the hotel.

The hotel does have a working alarm system that alerted occupants to the fire, Hergenreter said.

Fort Dodge firefighters and police were on the scene for about two hours.