FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A fire in the laundry room of the Broward County Main Jail, located in Downtown Fort Lauderdale, forced a partial evacuation of the facility, Thursday.
According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, a controlled evacuation was ordered at the jail, located at 555 SE 1st Ave., at around 11 a.m. The first and second floors of the facility were evacuated due to water and smoke.
Jail deputies responded with fire equipment to the laundry room where the fire started and evacuated staff and inmates from the immediate area, according to BSO.
Officials said two people were treated for smoke inhalation. One of them was described as civilian employee, who was transported to Broward Health Medical Center. She is expected to be OK.
BSO deputies could be seen investigating the perimeter, at around noon. Roads between Andrews Avenue up to Southwest Sixth Street were ordered closed off. They reopened sometime before 2 p.m.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue trucks also responded to the fire, described as a two alarm event. It took more than three dozen firefighters to contain the blaze.
Approximately one hundred inmates were taken to a bus and transported to the Paul Rein Detention Center in Pompano Beach, following the evacuation.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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