The initial report from dispatch was a general fire alarm but once NFD members arrived on scene, they were able to smell smoke from the outside of the restaurant – prompting dispatch to call extra personnel to the station to respond.
“When our first engine showed up they saw heavy smoke coming from the basement and once they made entry into the basement, they determined there was a fire,” fire chief Michael Cranson said. “The sprinkler system had activated and held the fire from getting any worse. The crews were able to pretty quickly knock the fire down but we just had a ton of clean up, smoke, and carbon monoxide throughout the entire building.”
“Nobody got hurt. Nobody got killed. The sprinkler system did its job so that is a big boost for the push for sprinkler systems,” Cranson added. “That is a perfect example of how they save lives and they save properties.”
The NFD began to ventilate the building with fans and after the fire was extinguished, began to pump water out of the building.
“Our fire prevention officers were on scene doing the investigation. The Health Department, the wiring inspector was on scene. Everyone was doing their due diligence to make sure that everybody was safe and everything was being done according to code.”
Cranson said the cause of the fire is still under investigation at this time, but confirmed that there is a large amount of smoke and water damage.
“There is a ton of smoke and water damage in the basement,” Cranson said. “Then there is some smoke damage throughout the rest of the building but hopefully they can get that resolved and fixed rather quickly.”
Three engines, two fire cruisers, one ambulance, one police truck, and one police cruiser were on scene. Over a dozen NFD personnel responded.
Gaslight manager Devin Perras confirmed to the Current that The Gaslight will not be open today due to the fire.
Cranson said they will be “closed up for a while” but there is no timetable for when they will reopen.
The Gaslight later posted on their social media that they would be closed Sunday and for “the next few nights” while expressing their gratitude for the NFD.
“We are so grateful to the Nantucket Fire Department for their quick response to the basement fire (Sunday) morning,” they said. “They had it under control in no time. Sprinkler systems work and ours definitely saved our restaurant and venue from heavy damage or total loss. Back to feed you and rock out soon.”
