State Fire Marshal calls Harborside Inn fire an ‘accident’

WARWICK, R.I. (WLNE) — On Tuesday morning, State Fire Marshal Timothy McLaughlin provided an update on the investigation into the Harborside Inn fire on Block Island and shared key details to clarify the investigation.

McLaughlin said the fire at the historic hotel this summer was accidental.

“Although as tragic as it was as a historical building, it was accidental. There was no question about that,” McLaughlin said.

“It was accidental during our investigation. There could have been two points of how it started – from grease vapors or something left on the stove,” he continued.

McLaughlin said his team of inspectors made progress with over three dozen inspections on Block Island, but left out the Harborside Inn.

“We did a complete inspection – we have almost completely inspected the entire island, but this specific place we missed. We had so much going on — but it was compliant,” explained McLaughlin.

The third-party company, Emergency Services of New England, was responsible for inspecting the fire suppression kitchen equipment tagged the Harborside Inn’s equipment as inspected, although it was not checked thoroughly.

“We subsequently revoked his license in Rhode Island to do fire suppression systems, based on what we thought was negligence,” McLaughlin added.

Fire officials said the most possible cause of the fire is from missing grease traps in the hood or from grease flaring up while cooking, which officials said is supposed to be cleared every 180 days by businesses.

“We did find that at least two of those were missing. We don’t know where those gaps were on the cooking line when cooking was active there. The other possibility is that during their normal cooking process grease flared up and it went up into the hood and into the wall cavity,” said James Given, acting chief deputy.