Employees at the El Paso County Courthouse were ordered out of the building Monday morning after smoke was spotted on the 13th floor, triggering a text alert telling workers to evacuate the downtown high-rise. The El Paso Fire Department said it received the smoke reports before the alert went out, pulling staff from the courthouse, which houses the county's district courts, county courts at law, and probate courts.
According to KVIA, employees received the text telling them to evacuate the courthouse Monday morning, and the fire department has confirmed it was responding to reports of smoke on the 13th floor.
According to SAH Archipedia, the building at 500 East San Antonio Avenue, clad in blue reflective glass, was built in 1991. The 1980 courthouse was the previous courthouse and is still standing. El Paso became the county seat in 1884 after operations moved from Ysleta, per the El Paso Museum of History. The courthouse houses the county's district courts, county courts at law, and probate courts.
A Second Scare Four Months And Nine Days Later
Monday's evacuation is not the courthouse's first this year. The building was cleared on June 10 after a suspicious package prompted a response from the El Paso Police Department Bomb Squad, a call that came in around 9:08 a.m. before the building was cleared, as reported by KFOX14. Beyond its judicial functions, the courthouse also serves as a civic hub, hosting voters in its third-floor back lobby during municipal and county elections, according to the City of El Paso.
The courthouse also holds cultural significance beyond its government functions. Its atrium houses a 1995 mural titled “Our History” by Chicano artist Carlos Callejo, spanning three walls under a glass ceiling and depicting more than 50 historical characters and scenes from the El Paso border region, according to Texas County Progress. The building's civic weight was underscored again last year when the El Paso County Sheriff's Office unveiled a new uniform patch featuring an image of the courthouse as a symbol of the local justice system.
The Fire Department
The El Paso Fire Department responded Monday to reports of smoke at the courthouse.
