COVINGTON - An electrical fire forced the evacuation of nearly 200 guests at the Radisson Cincinnati Riverview Hotel early Tuesday.

Assistant Fire Chief Mike Swain said an electrical short caused a small fire in a 17th-floor linen closet about 6:30 a.m. and power was turned off all day to investigate electric lines. No injuries were reported, but water from emergency sprinklers caused minor damage to some hotel carpets and walls, Swain said.

All guests were placed in other hotels at the Radisson's expense, said hotel spokesman Ken Fairchild, and those who stayed overnight Tuesday were not charged and received complimentary future hotel rooms.

"We expect them all back in and business as usual tomorrow morning," Fairchild said. The hotel's emergency response system operated properly, Swain said, despite some guest complaints that they did not hear the alarm.

Swain said fire alarms in high-rise buildings sound first on the floor of the fire and on the two above and the one below to prevent exits from being blocked. If a fire grows, alarms spread to other floors, he said.