KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical (LDCFM) crews responded to a fire Tuesday night at the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.
The center, located at 111 East 11th St. in Lawrence, contains Douglas County's district attorney's office, emergency communications, court services and the sheriff's office.
Shortly before 11 p.m., firefighters were called to respond to a fire alarm. While responding, the report was upgraded to a confirmed structure fire.
Upon entering the basement of the structure, fire crews were met with a "significant amount of smoke" and low visibility, per LDCFM.
Crews located and extinguished the fire, which was contained by a single sprinkler head. LDCFM said the sprinkler system helped reduce "overall damage and interruption to business operations."
Wednesday morning, LDCFM issued an update on the cause and origin of the fire.
The blaze came from the deliberation room for the Division 7 courtroom. LDCFM said the room had recently experienced water damage from a sprinkler head due to freezing temperatures.
"The fire was determined to be accidental to an electrical/mechanical malfunction of a fan that had been left running in the room to assist with the drying process," LDCFM said in a release.
The Douglas County Emergency Communications Center's work was not stopped by the fire, with dispatchers monitoring the state of the building and working through the blaring fire alarm.
No injuries were reported in the fire.
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