Bartlesville Radio: The area’s best source for news, weather and sports!

An incident was avoided at the Nowata County Courthouse on Monday. Undersheriff Sandy Hadley thought she smelled the scent of gas at the Nowata County Courthouse. The building also houses the sheriff’s office and jail

An inspector was sent out to evaluate the situation. District one County Commissioner Burke LaRue says upon review there was not a leak.

LaRue says the boiler was finally re-lit by 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning. The courthouse had not been heated for over eight hours prior. The county commissioners believed that the best course of action was to shut down the courthouse all day Tuesday with the plan to re-open on Wednesday.

In March 2019, a similar incident occurred in which a gas leak was discovered in the building and the jail had to be evacuated. LaRue says that this avoided incident does have anything to with what occurred in 2019.