DOINews: NPS-Flight 93 Memorial: Fire Destroys Headquarters Building

Last Friday's fire destroyed three of the four buildings in the park headquarters complex. Photo by NPS.

A fast-moving fire swept through the headquarters of Flight 93 National Memorial on Friday afternoon, destroying three of the four buildings in the complex. Despite the severity of the blaze all employees were able to evacuate safely; one park employee, also a volunteer with the Somerset Volunteer Fire Department, sustained minor injuries while battling the blaze with fire extinguishers.

The buildings are located approximately two miles from the Flight 93 memorial plaza and the new visitor center currently under construction and neither of those sites was threatened or affected. Park operations remained unimpeded throughout the weekend.

The buildings served multiple functions for the operation of the memorial, including administrative offices for both park staff and the Friends of Flight 93, park library, conference facilities, and storage for a small portion of the park's curatorial collection. Park staff, with assistance from the Northeast Region Museum Emergency Response Team, have begun an inventory of the collection to determine specifically what was lost and what was saved.

Investigators with the National Park Service and Pennsylvania State Police have concluded the on-site portion of their investigation and have discovered no indication of arson or foul play in the fire. The investigation is ongoing; definitive findings, including the cause of the fire, are not expected for a matter of weeks.

This incident report by Mike Litterst, NPS, appears in the Oct. 3 edition of NPS' The Morning Report.

Related Link:

NPS-Flight 93 Memorial