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The building at 714 Fourth Street that houses the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Victim-Witness Program briefly caught fire this afternoon, and one lane of Fourth just west of the courthouse is closed while firefighters clear it out.

The fire caught on corner of the exterior of the building before firefighters put it out. According to scanner traffic, witnesses with extinguishers were attempting to stop the blaze before Humboldt Bay Fire arrived.

Battalion Chief Kent Hulbert, at the scene, tells the Outpost that a passerby noticed the corner of the building smoking and warned employees. 

Still no word on the cause of the fire.

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UPDATE, 5:05 p.m.:

Here’s a press release from the District Attorney’s Office:

Today a fire burned the outside corner of the District Attorney Victim Witness Office at 712 Fourth Street.  Fortunately no one was injured, but the Office was filled with smoke.   Therefore, Victim Witness staff and services will be temporarily relocated to the District Attorney’s Office on the Fourth Floor of the courthouse at 825 Fifth Street.  The contact number for the Victim Witness Office is temporarily 707-445-7411.

For limiting the harm caused by the fire, the District Attorney’s Office thanks: Sondra Kirtley of Scrapper’s Edge for quickly alerting Victim Witness staff, the Victim Witness advocates who immediately attacked the fire with extinguishers, and Humboldt Bay Fire Department personnel for their rapid and effective response.