County building evacuated after odor reported

The Cape Girardeau County Administrative Building in Jackson was evacuated Wednesday, as the Jackson Fire Department responded to an odor coming from the basement.

An employee pulled the fire alarm around 3 p.m., when he started noticing the smell and the power went out, said Associate County Commissioner Jay Purcell.

The building was on lockdown pending further investigation, just to be on the safe side, Purcell said. The power was out for one to two hours while technicians worked on the problem, and all county businesses were closed for the day.

The culprit turned out to be a bad coil on the main electrical panels in the basement, Purcell said.

It will be replaced first thing today when the county building opens, he said.

"It only affects the ability to generate backup power, the power is up and running, and everything's back to normal," Purcell said.

All county records are backed up by computer software at regular intervals, and hard copies are stored at the archive building in case of fire or other emergency, he said.