State House fire ‘accidental’ investigators say
Building will reopen Thursday after fire
An electrical fire at the State House Tuesday that forced the evacuation of the building was “accidental,” state police said in a Wednesday afternoon statement.
The fire started from “electrical faults” in two lines that run from an electrical vault near a guard shack to a pull box in the sub-basement of the building, a group of investigators determined. Building management shuttered the State House Tuesday afternoon and kept it closed Wednesday because of concerns about high levels of carbon monoxide.
“There is no information or evidence to suggest the fire was intentionally set,” State Police spokesman Dave Procopio said in a statement.
The building will reopen on Thursday after power was restored “and it has been determined that it is safe to reopen the building,” State House Superintendent Tammy Kraus said.
“We are working with Eversource to identify the scope of repair and create a work plan that will include upgrading the transformer electrical lines,” Kraus said in a statement. “Air scrubbers will continue to operate throughout the evening and potentially tomorrow to absorb residual odors.”
Firefighters responded to the historic state capitol just after 2 p.m. Tuesday when the electrical fire was discovered in the sub-basement. Lawmakers, staff, and members of the public poured out of the building at the direction of authorities, congregating on nearby streets as firetrucks pulled up to the building.
The fire followed a false alarm earlier in the day. Procopio said Wednesday that two visitors “accidentally” triggered the alarm Tuesday morning “under the mistaken assumption that it was a mechanism to open a door.”
The first alarm interrupted a meeting of House lawmakers, who were gathered for the second time this week to review major gun reform legislation that has since been caught up in a procedural dispute with the Senate.
“The two incidents were not connected,” Procopio said of both fire alarms.
A House informal session scheduled for Wednesday morning was scrapped and the branch plans to meet next on Thursday morning, a spokesperson for House Speaker Ronald Mariano told the Herald.