The Alliance Volunteer Fire Department took quick action in response to the report of a possible electrical fire at the Box Butte County Courthouse on Monday morning.
AVFD Chief Troy Shoemaker said they were dispatched at 9:45 a.m. Courthouse staff and patrons were evacuated as a precaution and firefighters scoured the building to locate the source.
“What it ended up being was a box fan that is used to keep radio equipment cool, the motor seized up, we believe, and smoked enough that it activated the two smoke detectors in that particular room on the fourth floor,” said Shoemaker. “It was fairly simple, but it was just a matter of tracking the actual source down. There was no fire. There was just some smoke on the fourth floor, which is a non-public floor, in a room that back in the day had jail cells in it, but now is used for file storage.”
Shoemaker explained that they cleared the scene at 10:28 a.m.