The building that houses Public Safety Joint Communications and the 911 Operations Center was evacuated at approximately 9:15 p.m. Sunday due to smoke and a small fire.
“There was quite a bit of smoke, but the fire was extremely small,” Public Safety Joint Communications Director Zim Schwartze said. “There were flames coming out of a power strip that we have in the operations room.”
The electrical fire was the result of a surge in the power strip, according to a news release.
“We were unplugging a large piece of equipment to transfer and put a new piece of equipment in,” Schwartze said. “It was when we were unplugging the old one when there was a surge.”
Six staff members were evacuated due to the large amount of smoke. No one was injured.
Some operators were relocated to the Emergency Operations Center. Phone capabilities were limited for the first hour.
“No calls are believed to have been lost,” Schwartze said.
The Operations Center was restored and functioning normally within an hour.
The Columbia Fire Department responded to the incident.
“The whole building could have caught fire, but fortunately, it didn’t,” Schwarze said. “We had prepared for this move. Unfortunately, there was some wire that wasn’t properly installed a few years ago, which is what caused the incident.”