CHARLESTON, WV - A lunchtime fire briefly forced the evacuation of the Kanawha County tax office this afternoon.
Sheriff Mike Rutherford said a newly installed ceiling fan caught fire at about 12:30 p.m. in the sheriff's first floor tax office in the county courthouse at Court and Virginia streets.
Charleston firefighters responded almost immediately to the fire, but Rutherford said a tax office employee put the fire out with a fire extinguisher before firefighters arrived.
As a precaution, the tax office was evacuated, but Rutherford said firefighters did not find it necessary to evacuate the rest of the courthouse. No one was hurt, and workers were allowed back into the tax office by 1 p.m. |