Even though Widener had not officially opened for the morning, dozens of employees and construction workers were already inside and were be evacuated.
Library officials declined to comment.
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The alarm eventually proved to be false, fire officials said.
By a little after 9 a.m., the fire trucks rolled away, and calm had returned to Harvard Square.
This morning, it will be business as usual at the Commander, Guleserian said.
"We use the laundry every day," he noted.
He said the fire was an anomaly and that the fire department had not found any problems with the hotel.
"The only precautions [we would take] would be to watch [the linen dryer] more closely," he said. "There are no violations or anything like that."