Smoke, but not much fire at jail annex

TIM KIMZEY/Tim.Kimzey @shj.com Firefighters and officers with the City of Spartanburg and Spartanburg County work the scene of a fire at the County Detention Annex on Daniel Morgan Avenue in Spartanburg Thursday night. Inmates were taken from the building and 14, along with one guard, were transported by EMS from the scene.

A fire at the Spartanburg County Detention Annex Thursday night caused no serious injuries but sent 14 inmates and one jail employee to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center for treatment of smoke inhalation.

City of Spartanburg Fire Marshal Mike Julazadeh said firefighters were dispatched at 9:40 to the annex, at 180 Daniel Morgan Ave., by an automatic fire alarm. Julazadeh said the alarm was caused by a fire that started in the laundry room, and guards attempted to extinguish it with dry powder fire extinguishers.

Julazadeh was uncertain whether the fire was still flaming when firefighters arrived, but said the area was very smoky and that the smoke combined with the discharge from the extinguishers made for a difficult environment.

Trying to find the cause

"There wasn't any structural damage," Julazadeh said, "just a lot of smoke."

Daniel Morgan Avenue was blocked in front of the annex in both directions for about 90 minutes as six firetrucks and as many ambulances converged on the scene.

Julazadeh said an investigation of the cause of the fire was being conducted late Thursday night, adding, "We're about to start digging out the laundry room to see what happened."