Underwood went to sleep in the nearby Belshaw House. He said he woke at 2:45 a.m. to what he thought was fireworks.
"I thought some kids had came up to pull a prank or something and had shot some fireworks in the middle of town," Underwood said. "I went out and all I saw was 60 foot of flames, the hotel, the cabin next to it, and the ice house were all on fire."
What Underwood thought had been fireworks had actually been the propane tanks in the hotel's kitchen exploding from the heat of the fire. Underwood feared for the safety of the caretaker, whose cabin he couldn't see through the flames.
Underwood found Robert moving his truck. The heat had been so intense it had melted the truck's tail lights off. Underwood retrieved water they had stored for goats and began dousing the hill, trying to slow the spread of the fire. The Lone Pine Fire Department responded to the blaze, assisted by the Olancha Cartago Fire Department, according to their Facebook post.
Given the remoteness of the town, it took the fire department an hour and 15 minutes to get there, Underwood said.
"By then the hotel is pretty much to the ground as well as the cabin next to it and the ice house," he said.