CLEARFIELD – A damage estimate is not yet available from the electrical fire that sparked Election Day on the roof of the Clearfield County Annex building, said the commissioners after Tuesday’s regular meeting.
The fire damaged wiring in the electrical panel of the HVAC unit but didn’t damage the rest of the unit, said Commissioner Mark B. McCracken. He added that the air conditioning and Internet were restored Friday.
The Domestic Relations Office re-opened 8:30 a.m. Tuesday (May 23). However, McCracken said Director Rick Redden made himself available throughout last week, and assistance was also available at the DuBois office.
According to a previously published GANT News report, the fire was reported at 10:42 a.m. May 16. The commissioners were subsequently alerted of smoke coming from the top of the annex and responded to the scene.
Jim Luce and Barry Angstadt, maintenance department personnel, and Adam Curry, IT director, assisted with extinguishing the fire from the roof. The fire spread from the roof into the ceiling of the county’s DRO. From inside DRO, Redden extinguished the ceiling tiles on fire.
According to the previous report, the fire was electrical in nature and started for unknown reasons. A new compressor was installed in the air conditioning condensing unit Election Day. Then, the old compressor was turned on for the first time in about a week. Approximately one-and-a-half hours later, county personnel were alerted of a problem.
The county’s annex building was evacuated, but employees of offices on the first- and second-floor were later permitted back inside and to return to work. The fire, however, closed the DRO office, located on the annex’s third floor.
Commissioner John A. Sobel praised county employees after Tuesday’s meeting for the way they handled the fire situation.
