Fire Put Out At Prison Building In Norfolk

NORFOLK (AP) - Authorities say a printer placed on a desk in a workstation most likely caused a two-alarm blaze that briefly forced the evacuation of an administration building at the state prison in Norfolk.

State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan says there were no injuries in the fire that was contained to a portion of the third floor of the three-story administration building.

Correction Department spokeswoman Diane Wiffin says the blaze started at about 1:20 p.m. on the building, which houses a prison infirmary but no inmate housing.

Wiffin says staff in the building and inmates who were in the infirmary at the time were evacuated while firefighters extinguished the blaze. They have since been allowed to return.

Coan says the fire was accidental.

MCI Norfolk is the state's largest medium-security prison, averaging more than 1,500 inmates.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)