photo by: Cynthia Hernandez/Journal-World

Lawrence Douglas County Fire Medical crews responded to a small fire in the basement of the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center at 111 E 11th St. around 11 p.m. on Tuesday Jan. 23, 2024, in downtown Lawrence.

A small fire at the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center Tuesday night was caused by a malfunctioning fan that was in use to dry a jury room in the basement after last week’s flooding incident.

Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical crews responded at 10:49 p.m Tuesday to the center at 111 E. 11th St. in downtown Lawrence, where they found the basement of the facility filled with a “significant amount of smoke,” according to a release from the department.

Fire crews searched the basement through low-visibility conditions and found a small fire in the jury room of the Division 7 courtroom. The fire had been contained by a single activated fire sprinkler head, the release said.

photo by: Cynthia Hernandez/Journal-World

Lawrence Douglas County Fire Medical crews responded to a small fire in the basement of the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center at 111 E 11th St. around 11 p.m. on Tuesday Jan. 23, 2024, in downtown Lawrence.

Douglas County’s Emergency Communications Center, which takes 911 calls and is housed in the building, was not disrupted, but dispatchers worked through an audible fire alarm for an extended period of time, the release said. No injuries were reported.

The release said that investigators traced the cause of the fire to an electrical or mechanical malfunction of a fan that was left on to dry the room after a burst pipe flooded the same room overnight on Jan. 15, as the Journal-World reported.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Fans could be seen lining the hallway of the Division 7 courtroom at the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center on Jan. 17, 2024, after a burst pipe flooded a jury room two days earlier.