An alarm that halted court proceedings and resulted in the evacuation of the Carter County Justice Center on Monday morning turned out to be a false alarm according to fire officials.
Around 9:30 a.m. on Monday, the fire alarm inside the Justice Center went off, prompting an evacuation of the offices and courtrooms. Both Carter County General Sessions Court and Carter County Criminal Court were in session when the alarm sounded. Judge Keith Bowers Jr., who was presiding over Sessions Court, and Judge Stacy Street, who was presiding over Criminal Court, declared recesses in their respective courts and the evacuation proceeded.
No smoke was visible inside the building when the evacuation was called.
Members of the Elizabethton Fire Department responded to the scene to investigate the source of the alarm.
EFD Deputy Chief Rusty Barnett said the alarm was caused by a smoke detector which had malfunctioned. The detector will need to be replaced, Barnett said, adding it was a unit inside the General Sessions Courtroom.
“We were over there last week on the same thing,” Barnett said.
The alarm company was notified of the malfunctioning unit, Barnett said, adding he was informed it would be replaced later in the day on Monday. Court officials confirmed Monday afternoon the detector had been replaced.