![]() ![]() Water damage was heaviest on the 5th floor but was spread throughout the building. In addition, broken water lines continued to flood the building until they could be capped. To stop sporadic rekindling of fire, firefighters continued spraying water on the building until late July. In order to combat the blaze, firefighters had been forced to pour millions of gallons of water into the building. Their work led to the recovery of approximately 6.5 million burned and water damaged records.įollowing the fire, the most immediate concern in the center revolved around water. The removal and salvage of water and fire damaged records from the building was the most important priority, and such efforts were overseen by a specially appointed project manager. That same day, employees, previously on administrative leave, returned to work to assist in recovery efforts and resume reference services. On July 23, the NPRC awarded a construction contract to clear and remove the remains from the ruined sixth floor. Such records have proved vital in efforts to reconstruct basic service information for requestors. As such, on July 23, 1973, the Government issued a Federal Property Management Regulations Bulletin (FPMR B-39) halting Federal agencies from disposing of records that might be useful in documenting military service. The latter proved especially important in the days following, as NPRC's officials determined that the fire damage had been worst among the Army and Air Force records for this same time period. These included the NPRC's operating records, a computer index for a major portion of the NPRC's holdings, and more than 100,000 reels of morning reports for the Army (1912-1959) and Air Force (1947-1959). All requests and records shipments from other government agencies were temporarily halted, and certain vital records were removed from the burning building for safekeeping. Even before the final flames were out, staff at the NPRC had begun work towards these efforts. The National Archives focused its immediate attention on salvaging as much as possible and quickly resuming operations at the Page facility. Due to the extensive damages, investigators were never able to determine the source of the fire. In all, it took the participation of 42 fire districts to combat the disastrous blaze. ![]() Numerous times, the fire threatened to spread down to the other floors but firefighters were successful in halting its advance. Exacerbating the situation, one of the department's pumper trucks broke down after 40 hours of continuous operation. It was not until July 16, nearly four and a half days after the first reports, that the local fire department called the fire officially out.ĭuring the long ordeal, firefighters faced severe problems due to insufficient water pressure. The blaze was so intense that local Overland residents had to remain indoors, due to the heavy acrid smoke. ![]() The fire burned out of control for 22 hours it took two days before firefighters were able to re-enter the building. In order to combat and contain the flames, firefighters were forced to pour great quantities of water onto the exterior of the building and inside through broken windows. While they were able to reach the burning sixth floor, the heat and the smoke forced the firefighters to withdraw at 3:15am. Firefighters arrived on the scene only 4 minutes and 20 seconds after the first alarm sounded and entered the building. Shortly after midnight, on July 12, 1973, a fire was reported at the NPRC's military personnel records building at 9700 Page Boulevard in St. However, in the years following the fire, the NPRC collected numerous series of records (referred to as Auxiliary Records) that are used to reconstruct basic service information. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. Neither were any indexes created prior to the fire. No duplicate copies of these records were ever maintained, nor were microfilm copies produced. (with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.) Personnel discharged Septemto January 1, 1964 Personnel discharged Novemto January 1, 1960 ![]()
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