Several State Government Complex buildings were impacted by the five-alarm fire in downtown Raleigh on the night of March 16. Affected buildings are expected to resume normal operations on Monday, March 20.
The Department of Administration’s Facility Management Division today conducted walk-through inspections of each state government building in the vicinity of the fire to ensure safety.
“We’re grateful to Raleigh firefighters, police and other first responders for their work overnight and into the morning,” Secretary Machelle Sanders said. “Our Facility Management experts have completed initial inspections of state buildings near the fire scene to make sure these buildings are safe.”
Impacted building with active operations include:
- Cooper building (225 N. McDowell Street): Loss of electricity
- Cotton building (222 N. Dawson Street): Loss of electricity
- Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Office building (217 W. Jones Street): Loss of electricity
- Nature Research Center (121 W. Jones Street): Loss of electricity
- Old Health building (216 W. Jones Street): Loss of electricity and physical damage from fire
- Shore building (214 W. Jones St.): Loss of electricity
The Old Health, DEQ Office and Cotton buildings are closed today. Agencies with affected employees include DEQ and Department of Health and Human Resources. Employees with offices in those buildings were instructed to work from home or at an alternative location. Electricity has been restored to all buildings.
The N.C. Office of the Commissioner of Banks office located at 316 W. Edenton Street adjacent to buildings damaged by the fire was also closed today.
The Old Health building is the only structure directly impacted by the fire. Exterior windows along the west side of the building cracked, and were inspected and secured.
No concerns were identified during roof inspections of the Old Textbook, Cotton Classic, Old Film Library, Caswell Square Old Heating Plant, Old Oral Hygiene and Old Health buildings.
Phone lines at the Museum of Natural Sciences located at 11 W. Jones Street were inoperable this morning, but are now functioning normally. Two State parking decks were also impacted by loss of electricity.
The fire originated around 10 p.m. near the intersection of West Jones and North Harrington streets.