United States postal employees and customers evacuated the Silverdale post office Thursday morning when a strong smell of smoke spread throughout the mail room at the Silverdale Way facility.

Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue firefighters arrived shortly before 9:45 a.m. to find a light haze of smoke filling the mail room area. Crews conduced an interior and exterior search of the facility using a thermal imaging camera to check for hot spots and the source of the fire.

The investigation determined that an overheated motor due to a cracked and burned-up fan belt in the heating and cooling system caused the smoke. Power was secured to the building.

Firefighters ventilated the building with large fans until the carbon monoxide levels were acceptable before turning the facility over to the post office manager at 10:30 a.m.