Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 25, 1991 TAG: 9102250014
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA LENGTH: Medium
The 12-alarm blaze raged from 8:30 p.m. Saturday until 3 p.m., when it reached a floor with automatic sprinklers and firefighters were able to direct a stream of water into windows, Fire Commissioner Roger Ulshafer said.
Hours earlier, fire crews stopped fighting the blaze from inside the building after engineers warned that the charred and soot-covered high rise could collapse.
The city's main downtown intersection, the traffic circle where Philadelphia's two major arteries loop around City Hall, was closed.
At least 12 firefighters were injured. Two were hospitalized in stable condition.
The fire at One Meridian Plaza started on the 22nd floor and spread to the 30th floor, where sprinklers kicked in. The building was only partially equipped with sprinklers, with none on the 22nd through the 29th floors, Ulshafer said.
The battle was complicated by failures in the building's electrical system, backup generators and water pumping system, Ulshafer said. Elevators couldn't be used, so firefighters had to stretch six 5-inch hoses by hand to the 22nd floor, he said.
"By the time we got them up there and got enough water, the fire was three floors above our heads," Ulshafer said.
During the late morning, flames were visible from the 27th through the 29th floors as firefighters sprayed three jets of water from a nearby office tower. All or portions of the 22nd through the 30th floors were gutted.
No adjoining buildings caught fire, Ulshafer said.
Police kept a crowd of onlookers more than a block away because windows occasionally popped from the intense heat, sending debris clattering more than 250 feet to the street. Smoke billowed from the upper stories and an acrid odor spread throughout the city.
The dead were identified as fire Capt. David Holcombe, 52, and firefighters Phyllis McAllister, 44, and James Chappell, 29.
They apparently became disoriented in heavy smoke and ran out of oxygen from their portable tanks, Ulshafer said.
"We found them next to a window which they had broken," Ulshafer said.
Ulshafer said firefighters battled the blaze for about 11 hours before a structural engineer warned the top 20 floors of the building could collapse.
Ulshafer said firefighters will let the building cool naturally before trying to enter, probably today.
by CNB