TWO guests were rescued last night by firefighters as fire swept

through the second floor of the Stakis Normandy Hotel in Renfrew.

One man was rescued from the window of his bedroom by firefighters on

a turntable ladder. Another was rescued after he had jumped from his

bedroom window on to a first-floor flat roof below. He was taken to

hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and a minor head injury. He was

later named as Mr Geoffrey Daniels, 49, from Clwyd.

Mr John Williamson, senior divisional officer of Strathclyde Fire

Brigade, said last night: ''This was a very serious fire. Had it been at

midnight or at one or two o'clock in the morning, it could have been a

potentially life-threatening fire.''

The guest who jumped to the flat roof below his room had done so

because flames and smoke were coming through his bedroom door, said Mr

Williamson.

He added that the second-floor corridor of the hotel and some bedrooms

there had been damaged by fire, and all the bedrooms had been badly

smoke-damaged.

Mr Alex Pagett, director of corporate affairs for the Stakis

Organisation, however, described the fire as ''very minor'' and said it

had affected only half-a-dozen bedrooms.

''From a belt and braces effort to ensure maximum safety of guests, we

have booked our guests into other hotels in the neighbourhood,'' he

said.