The Harbor Landing Hotel in Vineyard Haven had to be evacuated Thursday night after a fuse short-circuited and filled the lobby of the building with smoke.
Tisbury fire chief Greg Leland said his department received a call shortly after 7 p.m. that there was smoke in the building. Chief Leland said fire personnel arrived on the scene three to five minutes later and found light smoke in the first-floor lobby area.
“There was no flame, you could clearly smell something electrical had burned,” he said.
After determining the smoke was coming from a sub-panel closet in the lobby, the building’s 36 occupants were evacuated. At that time, Chief Leland said only half the building had electricity and the power was fluctuating in and out.
As part of the response, the chief said they called in Eversouce, the Tisbury building and wiring inspectors and the hotel’s private contractor to see if they could get the power back up and running. Chief Leland said the team was successful in turning the power back on but determined in the process that the building was still not suitable for occupancy.
“At that point the building inspector and myself determined they needed to re-home the people who are there overnight,” Chief Leland said.
While the team worked to resolve the issues, the Tisbury police department assisted the building’s occupants to retrieve belongings from their rooms. Occupants then spent the night at either the Mansion House, Vineyard Harbor Motel or The Edgar Hotel.
Chief Leland said the building was cleared for occupants to return at 9 a.m. Friday morning. He said there was no damage as a result of the electrical short circuit and no injuries relating to the fire.
