County Government Headquarters Closed Briefly for Electrical Fire

UPDATE (4:19 p.m.)—An "odor of smoke" was discovered by employees in the Harford County Government headquarters at 220 S. Main St. on Tuesday. The Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company responded to the call to find a "haze" inside the building, according to a witness.

“Employees in the office of economic development had an odor of an electrical-type fire, a burning odor in that particular office area,” Harford County Government Management Assistant Bob Thomas said. “The Director of Economic Development Jim Richardson notified security, who then pulled the fire alarm. The building was evacuated without incident.”

Thomas added that the odor was not “picked up” on the second and third floor.

“We couldn’t smell it upstairs at all,” he said.

Rich Gardiner, a spokesman for the BAVFC, said that a "heater motor burned up in the ceiling area of the human resources office," causing an apparent electrical fire, though no flames were ever seen.

“Upon arrival firefighters investigated and had an odor of smoke inside the structure,” he said. “There [are] no injuries and the building is back to being occupied.”

Gardiner added that operations have been turned over to county maintenance personnel.

The government building, which , was evacuated from about 1 p.m. to shortly after 2 p.m. while firefighters investigated the incident.

Thomas said that County Executive David Craig was in Annapolis on Tuesday.

The Bel Air Police Department rerouted northbound Main Street traffic onto Fulford Avenue for approximately an hour.

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