A fire early yesterday morning in the Harkness Commons dining hall at the Law School caused minor damage and a slight injury to one kitchen worker, although the dining hall opened for meals as usual yesterday.

One employee was taken to the University Health Services (UHS) for smoke inhalation and a bloody nose he sustained while trying to put out the fire, a police spokesman said yesterday.

The worker was released from UHS yesterday with no complications, a Harkness official said yesterday.

The Cambridge Fire Department responded to the fire with nine vehicles. Smoke filled the building as the firemen extinguished the fire, which started inside a wall partition near the dining room.

The fire was discovered around mid-night yesterday by two workers in the second floor grill who were making their final rounds after the building closed, a police spokesman said.

Policeman at the scene said if the fire had not been discovered by the two workers if might have been hours before anyone noticed the smoke.

Harkness Commons officials said yesterday they do not yet have an estimate of the damage from the fire.

Spokesmen for the fire department and the University police said yesterday they do not know the cause of the blaze.