Smoky Building Forces State Workers Out of N.Y. Building
Source Times Union, Albany, N.Y.
Jan. 17--ALBANY -- About 100 state employees were forced out of their building at 97 Central Ave. shortly after noon Tuesday when smoke filled the basement and an alarm sounded, city officials said.
No injuries were reported.
Smoke was coming from at least one manhole outside the four-story building that houses the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, the agency created by the merger of the Division of Parole and the Department of Correctional Services. Power was cut to the building.
Crews from National Grid and the Albany Fire Department were assessing the underground electrical problem along a roughly half-block stretch of lower Central Avenue. The block was briefly closed to traffic but later reopened.
The building was evacuated about noon. Some state employees stood in the entryway of a nearby convenience store to stay warm and out of a cold rain. Others returned to their old offices at the nearby former parole headquarters at 145 Central Ave.
The workers were sent home for the day about 2:15 p.m., as were about 75 employees of Equinox Inc., located at 95 Central Ave. Power was cut to their building about 1 p.m. as a precaution.
Copyright 2012 - Times Union, Albany, N.Y.
