Disaster averted as City Hall fire extinguished

A firefighter shines his flashlight
on the power strip that shorted out
and started a fire in the City Clerk's
office at Bogalusa City Hall late
Friday. (Photo by John H. Walker)

A disaster was averted late Friday afternoon when sprinklers were able to extinguish a fire that had broken out in the City Clerk’s office in Bogalusa’s historic City Hall.

“The sprinkler system did its job,” said Fire Chief David Moody. “If it had gotten into that wood and up above the ceiling tiles, it would have been a tough fight.”

The fire started in an overloaded power strip behind a desk in the office, just off the foyer of the building.

“It’s easy to see where it started and worked its way up the wall,” Moody said. “Several ceiling tiles were down in the originating office, and another couple were down in the second office, which is located next to the office of Judge Robert Black.

Burned and melted items on the
desk where the power strip was
located. (Photo by John H. Walker)

“This could have been really bad,” Black said, as he surveyed the damage and started the process of collecting water damaged court records to take home over the weekend to dry out.

“It got some wood, but at the least sprinklers did their job,” Moody said, as he and Black discussed ways to protect the undamaged records while allowing the offices to air out from the acrid smell.

A stack of books,
manuals and registers
charred and wet.
(Photo by John H. Walker

Mayor Charles Mizell said he had arrived at City Hall right after firefighters got the blaze under control.

“I had been at a lift station that wasn’t working when I got the call about this (the fire),” Mizell said as he surveyed the damage about 7:45 p.m. “This could have been really bad.”

Bogalusa’s City Hall was built in 1917 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

(First published at http://www.wpnewsblog.blogspot.com)