Smoke emanated from a faulty industrial dryer in the resort’s utility room on the ground floor, Inspector Walter Evans of Police Fire Services said Sunday. The smoke then travelled through vents to rooms on various floors of the eight-floor wing.
“The fire department was great but management was terrible,” one guest told The Guardian shortly after the evacuation. “I had to evacuate people,” expressed the 20-something-year-old fireman who said he was visiting with a female partner from a major city on America’s Eastern seaboard.
He criticised the hotel as having staged a “poor” evacuation and potentially putting lives at risk. Dozens of seemingly dazed guests, recently evacuated from their rooms, stood outside the resort’s entrance as firefighters tried to locate the origin of the smoke.
An 18-year-old Philadelphia man, who gave his name only as Brandon, complained, “They (the resort) didn’t even have drinks [during the evacuation].” Claiming hotel employees initially denied there was an alarm, he felt the resort should have handled the situation “a little better.”
Four fire trucks, including a ladder truck, responded to the alarm, which was first called into the police control room at 12:55 a.m. Sunday. Firefighters travelled floor-to-floor for more than two hours ensuring that a potential source of the smoke was not burning.
The normally swift-moving traffic along the Cable Beach strip slowed significantly on the eastbound dual-carriage way as fire trucks took up part of the road outside the resort.
Inspector Evans commended the resort’s staff and General Manger Jackson Weech for “good cooperation.” A hotel spokesperson called the incident “minor” during the evacuation and management was not available for comment after the smoke had cleared by daytime Sunday morning.
One guest reported being allowed back to her room at 4:00 a.m. Sunday.
By Raymond Kongwa, Nassau Guardian Staff Reporter
