A FIRST-FLOOR fire forced guests out of the Yacht Hotel last night. The blaze is believed to have started behind the bar in the newly-decorated restaurant. It is not being treated as suspicious. There was extensive smoke damage on the upper floors.

‘I heard the alarm go off and, at first, I thought it was a drill. But as I opened the door you could smell the smoke,’ said Matthew Morgan, 27, a worker who was staying at the hotel.

‘At that point the adrenaline kicks in. You could see smoke billowing out of the window. There was smoke shooting out of the vents at the side of the building, too.’

Firefighters were called at 10.30pm and cleared the building. The restaurant was not reported to be particularly busy. Four firefighters with breathing apparatus used one hosereel to extinguish the blaze.

An ambulance was also called to the scene. A 53-year-old man suffered from smoke inhalation and minor cuts to his hand. It was the first night-time emergency for the service’s new vehicle.

It took two hours to make the scene safe.

‘The upper floor is full of smoke and we are using fans to ventilate it,’ said incident commander Trevor Queripel.

‘I have advised the hotel manager that the guests probably can’t stay here tonight.’

A second person was treated for smoke inhalation by firefighters and taken to hospital.