Tisbury firefighters responded to a call for a small fire and smoke filling a workshop and apartment in a weathered, aged building on the Black Dog campus off Beach Road extension in Vineyard Haven about 10 am Tuesday.
The building’s occupants said they had used a hose to extinguish the flames near a corner of the building where stairs lead to a second-floor apartment, but the smell of smoke was still strong in the air.
Tisbury Fire Chief John Schilling was the first on the scene. As firefighters arrived, he directed them to the charred corner of the building with heat-detection equipment. The firefighters pulled back the weathered shingles and sprayed foam into the corner to suppress any remaining embers.
Tisbury Police kept traffic flowing through Five Corners, and Tisbury EMS waited in an ambulance parked in the Vineyard Haven Post Office lot.
Within 20 minutes, the emergency had passed, and firefighters, police, ambulance crews, employees, and passersby returned to their summer routines.
Chief Schilling said the initial fire was likely caused by carelessly disposed-of smoking materials.