(Credit: London Fire Department) Fire crews dispatched to city hall due to smoke in the electical room.
(Updated on 15/05/2024 @ 1:26 p.m. by Justin Koehler)
City officials, councilors, and more have been evacuated from city hall after smoke was found inside one of the electrical rooms on-site.
The smoke triggered one of the alarms, with acting fire marshalls evacuating the building and escorting everyone outside.
“Some smoke transitioned in and set off an alarm, so everybody exited, as they should, and gathered at our gathering point here,” says Director of Emergency Management and Security Services with the City of London, Paul Ladouceur.
Everyone gathered outside at Reginald Cooper Square located right behind city hall, the area shared with Centennial Hall. Fire crews arrived on scene and began evacuating the building at approximately 9:30 a.m..
City officials, councilors, and more gathered in Reginald Cooper Square, behind city hall.
Once the area was marked as safe, with the smoke being pushed out by positive pressure ventilation, people were allowed back into the building to retrieve their belongings before city hall officially shut down for the day.
Ladouceur says everyone was in good spirits, with many saying they were glad to have had the sunshine.
“I don’t know if they would be as happy if it was pouring rain, but today is a beautiful day,” says Ladouceur.
“We’ll get back to business once things are repaired and London Hydro was indicating it shouldn’t be too long.”
While the smoke was the primary focus, he adds the reasoning for the overarching closure partially comes down to the lack of safe lighting under emergency power.
London Hydro on-site to work to restore power and fix the electrical issue that caused the smoke.
“Safety first. You know when you’re running on emergency power and just emergency lighting, things like that, it makes it a little more difficult to operate. There’s only our critical services operating under emergency power.”
No injuries were reported and fire crews have since left the scene, with London Hydro working to fix the electrical problem that caused the smoke.
The City of London says city hall should be reopened as early as tomorrow and the Advisory Committee meeting scheduled for today has been canceled.
Anyone with questions and looking to reschedule any meetings or appointments at city hall is asked to check online services.
