WARREN — Public buildings around Courthouse Square were closed and evacuated Wednesday afternoon as a result of a noxious smell coming from city sewers that made some people sick, according to Trumbull County Commissioner Denny Malloy.

“People started complaining about a smell about 2 p.m.,” according to Malloy. “The smell continued to get worse.”

The commissioners called an emergency meeting about 2:35 p.m. to discuss the situation. In the interim, it was learned that Warren city officials were burning the lining of a nearby sewer, which caused a plume of smoke from the project to be sent through the system and into buildings in Courthouse Square.

Affected buildings included the county’s administration building, the Trumbull County Common Pleas Court building, Trumbull County jail, the Stone Building and other locations.

Because the county could not release the prisoners in the jail, officials contracted with SERVPRO to have it install air purifiers on each floor of the jail.

“Businesses around the block were notified about the situation,” Malloy noted.

Warren Safety Service Director Eddie Colbert said the city was relining some of the older sewers in different locations around the city.

“We were told the smoke would not go further than one block from where they were lining the sewer,” Colbert said. “We notified property owners to have water in their traps in the areas we believed would be affected. It seems that remnants went further than we were told it would.”

Mike Welke, director of Warren Water Pollution Control, said the city has some brick linings in city controlled sewers that need to be addressed or they could collapse. The effort has been to put a lining in the sewers to bind them in place.

“Hot steam is being used to cure it,” Welke described. “The steam released some of the chemical smell.”

A manhole was opened near the project to release the smell.

The sewer work was being done on Mahoning Avenue, near city hall.

“We were told the smell would not go no more than a block away, so no one expected it to go around the corner and reach the county buildings,” Welke said.

He noted that once the lining cures, the smell should dissipate and the odor is not toxic.

Malloy requested city officials to try to limit the relining work in the sewers until after normal work hours, so the county and other downtown offices will be able to reopen today.

“Having the offices closed is costing taxpayer dollars,” Malloy said.