A midday fire alarm emptied the City Hall Annex Thursday and well over a dozen units from the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department converged on what ended up being a “electrical odor” problem.
The alarm was a response to smoke that filled a portion of the 15-story building. Jacksonville Economic Development Commission Executive Director Ron Barton said he saw smoke on the 14th floor and pulled the alarm. “I yanked it. It felt good,” he said.
A member of JFRD said the big response from JFRD was due to the fact the building is over five stories high. Barton said he called mayoral spokeswoman Susie Wiles, who is in Texas this week, and joked it was “time to accelerate the (county) courthouse project.”