The Caddo Parish Courthouse was closed to the public on Monday, Jan 24, after an electrical flash fire on Saturday, Jan. 22 .
The incident happened inside the parking garage area of the courthouse on the Marshall Street side.
The courthouse is owned by Caddo Parish, and the parish had issued a work order to Shirley Insulation and Acoustics for work for less than $5,000. This job was not bonded because it was less than $25,000.
A contracted worker employed by Shirley Insulation and Acoustics drilled into an electrical wire.
This shorted out the electrical buss duct, which conducts a substantial current of electricity to the courthouse building. This caused an arc fault, which is a high-power discharge of electricity that generates heat and electrical fires.
The building's sprinkler system activated, and the worker was seriously burned.
The courthouse closing had a major negative economic impact on downtown businesses.
The Shreveport Downtown Development Authority provided information from a 2019 report on downtown people traffic.
This showed approximately 400 employees who worked at the courthouse that will be paid to sit at home because very few can work remotely.
Visitors to the courthouse come to the courts, the District Attorney's Office, the Caddo Tax Assessor, the Caddo Sheriff’s tax office and the Caddo Clerk of Court’s office. In 1999 this was an average of 15,800 per month.
This means that workers and visitors average over 700 people visiting/working in the courthouse Monday through Friday of each week.
Downtown eating establishments and retail establishments including parking lots have had a major reduction in business due to the substantially reduced number of people in the downtown area. This economic loss is probably not recoverable.
Making up for lost man hours in the public offices will be difficult if not impossible. The closure, for even one non-scheduled business day, creates work backlogs of not being able to interface with the public that cannot be easily duplicated.
The courthouse reopened on Wednesday, Jan. 26. However, the people traffic downtown was reduced the rest of the week because many people were not aware of the reopening.