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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Siren sounds, and smoke-barrier wall unexpectedly slides out, seals off Capitol corridor…

A smoke-barrier wall rolled out unexpectedly and sealed off a Capitol basement corridor on Thursday afternoon after a siren sounded, in an apparent malfunction of the Capitol's fire suppression system. (Betsy Z. Russell)
A smoke-barrier wall rolled out unexpectedly and sealed off a Capitol basement corridor on Thursday afternoon after a siren sounded, in an apparent malfunction of the Capitol's fire suppression system. (Betsy Z. Russell)

Well, that was weird. An unusual siren sounded, and then a metal smoke-barrier door slid out and sealed off the Capitol basement corridor where House committee meeting rooms are located, blocking lots of people on the other side who filed outside and upstairs and stood nervously on the sidewalk, wondering what was happening. Inside, on the other side of the wall, lawmakers, reporters and others stopped short on their way down the hallway and gawked at the unusual sight; an ISP officer was on the phone trying to get information. Eventually, the wall slid back open and things returned to normal.

According to Diane Blume, spokeswoman for the state Department of Administration, a duct sensor in the east wing of the Capitol went off around 3:35 p.m., causing an evacuation of the area, as a fire panel contractor was already on site working on another issue. “No fire trucks rolled,” Blume said, and there was no fire; the sensor may have been triggered by the contractor’s work.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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