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HALIFAX – Firefighters had a mystery on their hands Tuesday night after a report of smoke inside a downtown Halifax building.

Just before 6 p.m., firefighters were called to NSCAD at the corner of Sackville Street and Brunswick Street for a report of a possible structure fire.

When they arrived on scene, division commander Gary McCurdy says that smoke was building up in the basement but no flames were visible.

There were a handful of employees inside NSCAD, which was evacuated.

McCurdy says smoke filled two rooms in the basement, where renovations were being done.

He did not know whether the renovations were connected to the smoke incident.

Initially, firefighters did not know what the source of the smoke was.

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Firefighters ventilated the NSCAD building. A firefighter looks on as crews try to pinpoint the source of smoke inside the building.

“We closed the building back up and we’re letting it build again to see if we can find the source,” he said.

As traffic was re-routed through downtown Halifax, creating some tie-ups, firefighters got down to searching for the source. Approximately 30 minutes after the initial report, they found it.

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“We’ve successfully located the source of the smoke: it’s one of the [computer] servers for the building,” McCurdy said.

Firefighters worked with staff to identify how to shut the server down while crews ventilated the building.

“The server overheated or malfunctioned. What caused it, we don’t know. That would be up to an IT [expert],” McCurdy said.

There is no damage to the building. No injuries were reported.

Streets were re-opened to traffic about an hour after the incident.