Firefighters Battling Flames At Yakima County Courthouse

The Yakima County Courthouse remains closed Wednesday after a fire Tuesday on the exterior of the building. Yakima Fire officials say the fire was accidental. They say the cause of the fire was a cutting torch to cut a beam. The cutting happened on Monday and it appears embers from the cut Monday afternoon smoldered and ignited on Tuesday morning.
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PREVIOUS COVERAGE A fire between the Yakima County Courthouse and the old county jail on South 2nd Street kept firefighters busy early Tuesday morning. Yakima Fire Department Capt. Jeff Pfaff says firefighters were called to the area at about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday and they i evacuated people from the courthouse. Pfaff says the fire was burning on the outside between the two buildings. "There's probably 6 to 10 inches between the two buildings and there's this flexible joint material that's inside there and that was burning. It was the second third story level and it took our guys some time to get to it."
Pfaff says firefighters were be at the courthouse for most of the day dousing hot spots and searching for a cause.
Work is underway to demolish the old jail building next to the courthouse. That work has been put on hold Today because of the fire.

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Yakima firefighters are now battling flames of a fire between the former jail and current courthouse on Second Street. Yakima Fire Department Capt. Jeff Pfaff says firefighters were called to the fire at about 7:30 a.m. People have been evacuated from the current Yakima County Courthouse. The old Yakima county jail was being demolished and Pfaff says they're battling flames on the exterior of both buildings. No injuries have been reported.

The Yakima County Courthouse is closed Tuesday.