Voting Extended at Seymour Community Center After Smoke Condition Caused Evacuation

Firefighters responded to the Seymour Community Center for smoky conditions as residents turned out to cast their vote on a budget referendum.

Crews initially responded to a reported electrical fire inside the community center. It turned out that the smell and presence of smoke was a result of a burned-out motor on the HVAC system, according to firefighters.

"It's a motor that's filled with oil. So the oil was burning in it, causing the smoke," Fire Chief Chris Edwards said.

As a result, the Office of the First Selectwoman said the voting area was moved to the Bingo room. Voting was suspended for an hour, and residents were able to cast their votes until 9 p.m.

Both budget items failed with a total of 1,320 people turning out to vote. Now, city officials will take a look at the proposed budget and figure out how to cut it.

The First Selectwoman's Office said a smoking light fixture also caused a fire alarm to go off at about 2:50 p.m.

After people reported smelling smoke, employees and residents were evacuated from the building. The all-clear was given about a half hour later, First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis said. Voting was stalled for about 35 minutes.

She said the voting machine was unplugged and kept on battery backup during the incident.

The fire marshal and building inspector are investigating. There is some damage to the heat duct, but no one was hurt.

Seymour Police Chief John Bucherati said the annual town budget vote was scheduled for Thursday. The next budget vote will take place on May 18.

"Voting had to be suspended for approximately one hour. During that time, once the fire department made the building safe, we were able to move voting from the gymnasium to another room in the community center. We opened it up as fast as we could. All voting materials were escorted from one end of the building to another by police officers to maintain the integrity of the voting system," Bucherati told NBC Connecticut.