BOSTON (AP) — The Massachusetts Statehouse was closed for a second day Wednesday after an electrical fire in the basement was discovered a day earlier, forcing the evacuation of the historic building, including the governor, lawmakers and the public.

No injuries were reported.

Tuesday’s fire was in a transformer room in the building’s sub-basement, police said.

A large smoke plume from an industrial fire fueled by wood chip piles at an paper plant in Longview, Wash., is seen at sunset, Tuesday, July 18, 2023. The fire at Nippon Dynawave Packaging is worsening air quality in northwest Oregon and southwest Washington and officials warned those in the immediate area to stay inside and keep doors and windows closed. No injuries have been reported and officials are investigating. (Matt Esnayra/Longview Daily News via AP)

An industrial fire fueled by wood chip piles at an paper plant in southwest Washington is worsening air quality in the Portland area.

Carrol Johnston passes an indentation where her home stood before a May wildfire destroyed it in the East Prairie Metis Settlement, Alberta, on Tuesday, July 4, 2023. Johnston, who has been living in a nearby town, is awaiting a modular home so she can return to the land. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

The worst wildfire season in Canadian history is displacing Indigenous communities from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, blanketing them in thick smoke, destroying homes and forests and threatening important cultural activities like hunting, fishing and gathering native plants.

FILE - A woman walks past beauty salons with window decorations which have been defaced in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021. A spokesman at Afghanistan's Vice and Virtue Ministry said Tuesday, July 4, 2023, the Taliban are banning women's beauty salons. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

Afghan women protesting a beauty salon ban say the Taliban used tasers, fire hoses and gun shots into the air to break up their demonstration.

Trees scorched by the Donnie Creek wildfire line a forest north of Fort St. John, British Columbia, Sunday, July 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

The fires are responsible for at least two deaths in the province and, combined with a severe drought, will impact farmers and cattle producers.

The Boston Fire Department confirmed that the fire was confined to the basement area but said smoke got into other parts of the building.

Due to concerns about elevated carbon monoxide levels, the building was ordered closed for the rest of Tuesday. The shutdown continued into Wednesday out of what officials said was an abundance of caution while the fire was investigated.

Earlier Tuesday a fire alarm sounded in the building also forcing an evacuation. Officials said that was caused when two people inside the building pulled an alarm.





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