No Fire Found During Evacuation of Santa Clara County Building

By Bay City News Service

San Jose Fire Department officials could not find the origin of light smoke and a burning smell inside the Santa Clara County Government Center, which was evacuated for an hour Friday morning, a fire captain said.

The building at 70 W. Hedding St. was evacuated around 8:30 a.m. while firefighters investigated a report of smoke and an "electrical burning" odor in the basement, fire Capt. Cleo Doss said.

The smoke and smell triggered the building's alarm, Doss said.

The source of the fire could not be determined but it may have come from a burned out electrical ballast in a lighting fixture, Doss said.

Finding nothing burning and no smoke, firefighters turned the matter over to the building's maintenance crew and county employees were allowed to return after the hour-long evacuation, Doss said.

The county building houses dozens of county employees including the offices of the Board of Supervisors, district attorney and county clerk.

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