Smoke Clears Out Three Floors of Hilton

The fifth, sixth and seventh floors of the in Gaithersburg were evacuated Sunday morning after an apparent electrical malfunction in either an ice machine or a vending machine.

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue received the call just before 7:30 a.m. Firefighters encountered smoke on the sixth floor and "an odor of an electrical nature," said Asst. Chief Scott Graham.

Guests in the three floors were evacuated, and the rest of the hotel was sheltered in place while the smoke was ventilated.

"It appears preliminarily that a machine—whether an ice machine or vending machine—in the vending area of the sixth floor had an electrical issue, producing the smoke on those floors," Graham said.

There were no injuries, and the incident was resolved within a half-hour, Graham said.