Norfolk, VA – Norfolk General District Court is closed for the rest of the day due to high levels of carbon monoxide detected inside the building Thursday morning.
City officials said the reports initially came from a smell in the building on 811 E. City Hall Ave. A witness told 10 On Your Side it resembled a “burning couch.”
Norfolk Fire & Rescue received a call for that odor around 11 a.m. Battalion Chief Julian Williamson said the smell came from a generator powering construction equipment, which sat too close to an intake vent of the General District Court Building.
While there, fire crews detected elevated levels of carbon monoxide in the courthouse, which were also due to the generator. Both the odorless gas and bad smell entered the court’s HVAC system through that intake vent, according to authorities.
The courthouse was evacuated. A woman who left the building told WAVY.com the exodus went calmly. She said an alarm sounded and everyone walked out like a normal fire drill. People in the building had to leave behind their belongings, and firefighters used “a special commercial ventilating machine” to clear the air, according to a press release.
Williamson said on the second floor the carbon monoxide level was around 60 parts per million. A safe level, he said, is less than nine parts per million.
No injuries have been reported. If you were scheduled to be in court Thursday, call the General District Court Clerk (757) 664-4910 Friday morning to learn what the new schedule will be.