Smoke, no fire on West Napa Street

A burned-out air-conditioning fan caused alarm but no injuries this afternoon at the Sonoma Valley Community Health Center in Sonoma.
“We just started noticing smoke in one of the exam rooms, coming from the ceiling,” site manager Claudia Urbino said, adding that the incident happened just after staff returned from lunch. She said the building was evacuated safely.
Three engines from the Sonoma Valley Fire and Rescue Authority responded just before 1:30 p.m. to the 400-block West Napa Street clinic. Two engines from the Cal Fire station in Glen Ellen were also dispatched but canceled en route to the scene, which was declared under control within minutes.
Nearly a dozen staff members, as well as a handful of patients and passersby, gathered in the parking lot behind the building as two SVFRA firefighters searched the interior. No smoke was visible from the outside but the air was filled with a smoldering electrical stench.
SVFRA Division Chief Mark Freeman said the cause was a burned-out fan in the building’s HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) unit.