HOPKINTON — About 30 people were taken to hospitals after a smoky oven fire yesterday afternoon at an elderly housing complex drew crews from several departments and sparked the evacuation of as many as 50 people to a nearby senior center.

Eight residents, three EMTs and 19 firefighters were taken to Rhode Island, Westerly or South County hospitals, primarily as a precaution, according to Fred Sherman, chief of the Hope Valley EMS. He said they suffered minor inhalation problems and complained of feeling light-headed.

Hope Valley-Wyoming Fire Chief Frederick A. Stanley said preliminary reports indicate the fire started shortly after 3:30 p.m. when a first-floor tenant turned on her oven and forgot she had left a radio in it.

After the fire was put out in the 55-unit Canonchet Cliffs II on Route 3, firefighters took readings in the rooms for hydrogen, cyanide and carbon monoxide before finding the building safe for people to return.

As many as 40 ambulances and more than 10 fire trucks from Hope Valley-Wyoming, Ashaway, Carolina-Richmond and Stonington, Conn., fire departments responded. Ten firefighters were treated with oxygen at the scene. Inside a lobby in the complex, an EMT triage worker asked people if they had breathed any smoke.

Michael Octeau, Hopkinton Emergency Management Agency director, said the housing complex was opened to clear the air. He said about 50 residents, most of whom are elderly, were taken to the Richmond Senior Center, on Route 138 in nearby Wyoming.

Joseph Arsenault, Richmond Emergency Management Agency director, said he was calling in volunteers to help set up temporary shelter at the senior center.

A representative of the company that manages the housing complex said that it was expected that residents would be able to return to their apartments, except for the apartment in which the fire happened. By 7 p.m., many were returning.

— With reports from Journal staff writers Donita Naylor and Amanda Milkovits

mmckinne@projo.com