Baltimore Sun

Search the Baltimore County community newspaper archives

>> Click here to search for stories published AFTER 2011

>> Use this search box to find stories published prior to 2011.

Note: All Words is a more strict search. Implied operator is "AND."
Ex: Charles Dickens"

news

home

District court evacuated, 911 called an hour later

BY KIRSTEN DIZE

Posted 2/03/10

People poured out of the Harford County District Court building Monday afternoon as smoke alarms blared inside the building, but it was nearly an hour before anyone called 911.

Around 1:15 p.m., the rhythmic sound of an alarm spread throughout the courthouse and bailiffs calmly assisted in evacuating the courts as well as the other state offices in the Mary Risteau State Office Building on South Bond Street in Bel Air.

Smoke spread throughout the building after an elevator motor overheated.

Judges, lawyers, state employees and those anticipating their day in court all stood outside in the cold, waiting to be allowed back into the building.

It wasn’t until nearly 2 p.m. that someone contacted county emergency personnel. At 1:57 p.m. Judge Susan Hazlett called to report there was burning in an elevator and smoke throughout the building.

She told dispatchers the building had been evacuated almost an hour before she called and she didn’t realized no one had called in the incident.

The Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company sent equipment, which arrived around 2 p.m, according to Rich Gardiner, spokesperson for Harford Volunteer Fire and EMS.

Three Bel Air trucks arrived on scene and firefighters checked the building.

Around 2:15 p.m., an hour after the evacuation began, fire personnel cleared the building and people were let back inside the courthouse.