From staff reports

The Escambia County Sheriff's Office and Escambia County are at odds after workers' efforts to re-establish natural gas service at the Sheriff's Office administration building forced employees to evacuate Thursday evening.

Around 7:30 p.m., an Escambia County maintenance worker and a contractor from McNorton Mechanical were attempting to restore the administration building gas services that were disrupted by a natural gas explosion April 30 at the Escambia County Central Booking and Detention facility, according to Pensacola Energy.

The workers were purging the natural gas lines to the boilers on the fourth floor, and the smell of gas entered the building through air handling units, a statement from the Sheriff's Office said.

Sheriff's employees in the building notified the Fire Department and Pensacola Energy, and at about 7:45 p.m., evacuated the building. A written statement from the Sheriff's Office said the sheriff's staff was never notified that repairs were taking place.

"It is inconceivable that at any time, let alone with the recent gas explosion at the jail, that the county would be releasing gas on top of an occupied building and not let the employees inside know," Sheriff David Morgan said in a written statement.

A Sheriff's Office spokesperson said that because the administration building is owned by the county, maintenance workers have keys and are able to move through much of the building freely.

Pensacola Energy workers checked the building after the evacuation and found that there was no danger of a gas combustion. Sheriff's Office employees re-entered the building after approximately an hour.

A statement issued by the county Friday afternoon said, "Escambia County regrets that county staff did not better coordinate with the Escambia County Sheriff's Office to advise them of the re-establishment of natural gas service."

No one was injured in the event, and the administration building resumed normal operations Thursday night.