Danvers employees left work early Wednesday when an air-conditioning malfunction forced the evacuation of Town Hall at around 4 p.m.

According to Peter Mirandi, director of public health, a valve on the building's heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning malfunctioned, releasing coolant fumes into the building. With just an hour until closing time, town workers called it quits for the day.

“We weren't sure how toxic it was, so we evacuated,” Mirandi said.

The Fire Department was called in to ventilate the building, and all was back to normal Thursday. No one reported any ill effects as a result of the fumes.