Cladire Afectata Foc - English

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The Nat ional PersonnelRecords Center Fire:A Study in DisasterWALTER W. STENDER

and EVANS WALKER

FIRES, FLOODS, AND EARTHQUAKES have robbed us of many of thelegacies of the past. Fires, especially, have destroyed many historicalreco rds. A rou nd 2200 B.C. reco rds offices in M emph is, Egyptiancapital of the Sixth Dynasty, were destroyed by angry m obs. T hesacking of Rome destroyed much of the written record of that greatcivilization. T he wars of the twen tieth century b rou gh t disaster togreat cultu ral assets includ ing libraries and a rt galleries. In the U nitedStates several major fires in federal government buildings consumedim po rtan t record s and a rt objects. O n Novemb er 8, 1800, a fire in theWar Department robbed historians of much of the record of thisde pa rtm en t for the first decade of this nation's history. Vital materialsrelating to the fiscal activities of this country were destroyed in an 1833fire in the Trea sury D epartm ent. W hen the Patent Office bu rne d in1836, valuable records and significant models of the inventions whichhelped to shape the industrial might of the United States were de-stroyed . Significant pain tings and othe r historical relics dis appe are d inthe flames of an 1851 fire in the U .S. Capitol. Social scientists anddemographers always will mourn the loss of the records of the 1890Decennial Census lost in a 1921 fire in the Census Bure au . Each ofthese fires helpe d to diminish the cultural heritage of this nation . Butin terms of size and impactthe number of records destroyed and thenumber of persons affectednone of the earlier fires equalled thedisaster of July 12, 1973, at the National Personnel Records Center inOverland, Missouri.

As it exists today, the National Personnel Records Center is theoutg row th of several previous organ izations. T h e center reflects abelief on the part of the National Archives and Records Service that allpersonnel records of former federal government employees, bothcivilian and military, should be housed in and serviced by one adminis-trative unit. T he civilian personne l records are in a building in SouthSt. Louis constructed in i960 as a general purpose federal records

Walter Stender is Assistant Archivist for Federal Records Centers, National Archivesand Records Service. Evans Walker is a staff mem ber of the same office.521


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522 T H E A M E R I C A N A R C H I V I S T ~ O C T O B E R 1 97 4

center. T he military personnel records in the Overland building werea part of the Demobilized Personnel Records Center, which by i960had become known as the Department of Defense Military PersonnelRecords Ce nter. T he most significant preliminary step toward theestablishment of a national center for personnel records was taken onJuly 1, 1960, when the General Services Administration assumed theoperation of the Department of Defense Center in St. Louis and title tothe pro pe rty was tran sferr ed to GSA. Finally, in 1966 the St. LouisFederal Records Center and the Military Personnel Records Centerwere merged and renamed the National Personnel Records Center.A personnel records center is rath er specialized. Instead of thegreat diversity of records handled in the Federal Archives and RecordsCenters located throughout the United States, the center in St. Louis is,for the most part, concerned with only one type of record: the recordof service, civilian or military, within the federal gov ernm ent. O nemight easily assume that handling such records is largely a routine task,but such is not the case. T he re is great diversity in the m an ne r inwhich personnel records have been maintained in the United States.Each military service has used different systems of recordskeeping.Even the civilian sector has reco rds of many different types. T hu s anelement of complexity is present in the operation of the centers.Each day the National Personnel Records Center receives thousandsof requests for inform ation from its reco rds. Inform ation is neede dfor such matters as loan applications, for retirement credit, for use inlocating long-missing members of families, or perhaps for determininga forgotten date of birth in order to qualify for Social Security benefits.In order to administer so large an organization, the center has asizeable management staff responsible for overseeing all operationsincluding a com puterized index to many of the holdings. T he size ofthe staff requires having comprehensive administrative proceduresmanua ls detailing the complexities of reference activity. Much of thereference takes place, however, not in offices but in the records storagearea s. Staff mem bers , working from specially designed carts, locatefiles, search them for neede d inform ation, a nd com plete the formswhich will be mailed to the requ este r. Th is "work-in-file" concept hasgreatly improved the efficiency of the reference activity.The building which houses the military personnel records is some-thing of an architectural landm ark. In 1951, the Depa rtme nt ofDefense asked the St. Louis firm of Hellmuth, Yamasaki, and Lein-weber, Inc., to design a new building to house the Demobilized Per-sonnel Records Center, which was located then in an existing facility inSt. Louis. Study teams from the firm visited several reco rds centers ,including one operated by the U.S. Navy at Garden City, New York,and one operated by the Department of Defense at Alexandria, Vir-ginia. In add ition, a study team spen t several months analyzingfunctions, interrelationships, and space requirements of the existingcenter in order to determine what space and facilities should beincluded in the proposed new building. T he findings were incorpo-


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ra ted in a repor t the s tudy team submit ted in February 1952 ent i t led"Repor t of Exis t ing Faci l i t ies and Program Requirements for DefenseMil i ta ry Personnel Records Center ."In l igh t of subsequent events , the por t ion of the repor t dea l ing withthe centers in Garden City and Alexandria is especially significant.T h e Navy center was com ple te ly spr ink lere d as a f iresafe ty prec aut io n .Senior personnel there s t rongly advised the archi tec t ' s survey team toinclu de spr ink lers in the new Missouri facili ty . O pp os in g advice wasrece ived f rom Alexandr ia where senior off ic ia ls a t the Depar tment ofDefen se facil ity ind icate d that wa ter da m ag e was m or e fear ed t ha n fireda m ag e. In re t ro spec t , such a fee l ing abo ut water is na t ura l wh en on econsiders that part of the facil i ty in Alexandria was located at the edgeof the Potom ac River w he re f looding was a rec ur r in g pro blem . T h econflicting advice given to the architectural team, however, was arealist ic reflection of the debate then taking place among archivists andl ibrar ians abo ut the benef its an d da ng ers of spr ink lers . Ap par ent l ythe case against sprinkler systems was presented more forcefully to thearchi tec ts . W he n the p la nni ng of the ac tua l s t ru c tu re was com ple ted ,spr ink ler systems w ere missing from the desig n. T h e basis for thedisas ter twenty years la te r was beginning .

T h e evolu t ion of the des ign is an in teres t in g s tory . W he n theDefense De par tm en t o u t l ined i ts bu i ld ing requ i re m en ts to the a r -ch i tec ts , the depar tment suggested tha t the bui ld ing should be a la rgesqu are , six s tories h igh . T h e econom y inhe ren t in such a p lan obvi-ously app eale d to the de pa r t m en t . T h e archi tec ts , how ever , be l ievedtha t severa l d isadvantages ex is ted in such a scheme, inc luding a poorfunct ional layout and a t roublesome problem of ver t ica l c i rcu la t ionwithin the bui ldin g. Finally, th e archite cts dec ided to study th e func-tional requirements of each of the mili tary services to be housed in thecen ter . Ap prox im ate ly s ix teen weeks of pre l im inary des ign workresul te d in n ine s ignif icant ly d i f ferent bui ld ing propo sa ls . T h e n eachproposa l was s tudied by a d i f ferent team of a rchi tec ts for approxi-mately thr ee weeks. Following this study of all th e pro pos als , two werese lected for addi t io nal s tudy du r i ng a f if teen-week per iod . T h e reso-lution of the two different schemes resulted in the design finallyexecu ted . Fo r ty weeks were spen t in p re pa r ing the work ing d raw ingsand specifications.

The structure that evolved from the visi ts , analyses, and discussionsis im po sing even today in i ts tru nc at ed five story versio n. Er ecte d bythe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at a cost of $12.5 mill ion, the solids t ruc ture re f lec ts the long exper ience of the engineers as bui lders ofdam s and tam ers of r ivers . T h e shee r bulk a lone ma kes a s t ro ngimpress ion on the v iewer , and the vas t sca le tends to overwhelm thequ ie t S t . Lou is suburban communi ty o f Over land where the bu i ld ingrises on a seven ty-acre si te . I ts s ize is difficult to co m pr eh en d, evenw he n one is inside . T h e build ing , 728 feet long , 282 feet wid e, s ixstories high, presents an impassive facade to the world with i ts ratherb lan d cur ta in wall of g lass an d a lu m inu m . T h e exte r ior regular i ty is


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524 TH E AMERICAN ARC HIV IST ~ OCTO BER 1974

broken only by severa l canopies pro jec t ing over en trances and by asmal l anc i l la ry bui ld ing des igned to house a cafe ter ia and meet ingrooms for the center staff.The years fo l lowing the 1956 comple t ion of the bui ld ing were ac t iveones . T he nu m be r o f ind iv idua l pe r son ne l r eco rds in the cen te rincr ease d from 38 mill ion to m or e th an 52 mill ion. As a resu lt ofimproved managemen t p rac t ices , GSA made s ign i f ican t r educ t ions inthe size of the s ta ff nee de d to op era te the cen ter . T h e bui ld ingbecame crowded, however , no t only with constan t ly increas ing recordshold ings , bu t a lso with addi t ional s ta f f a t the Army Reserve Compo-nen ts Pe rsonne l and Admin is t ra t ion Cen te r and wi th many tenan tagencies inc luding the Federa l Bureau of Inves t iga t ion , severa l o therfederal intell igence agencies, and l iaison offices for the Navy, AirForce , and M ar ine Co rps . M ore than 2 ,200 pe rso nne l were work ingin the bui ld ing by Ju ly 1973. A l tho ugh they p lan ne d the bui ld ing tohouse four thousand employees , the archi tec ts obviously had not ex-pec ted the reco rds hold ing s to ex pa nd with such rap id i ty . In addi t i onto a s ignif icant increase in the number of personnel records , theaccessioning of nearly one-half mill ion cubic feet of records of mili taryuni ts added to the shor tage of s torage space .

D uri ng the years pr i or to 1973, the M PRC bu i ld ing i tsel f beca me oneof the ser ious problems faced by the Nat ional Archives and RecordsServ ice. A l tho ug h its des ign ref lec ted carefu l p lan ning , in ac tua lfunction i t was not a successful records center , being a somewhatcur iou s b lend of wa reho use an d off ice space . Pe rha ps the mostno tab le difficulty was th e lack of ad eq ua te pro visio ns for firesafety.O n ea ch of th e floorsparticularly tho se from t he th ir d floor up we re larg e spaces un br ok en by firewalls. On ly th e office areas ,g rouped a long the no r th s ide o f the bu i ld ing and sepa ra ted f rom therecords s torage area by a s ingle concre te-b lock wal l , in te r rupted them or e th an 200 ,000 sq ua re feet of space on each floor. As early as1956, the year the center was comple ted , the Nat ional Archives andRecords Serv ice had dec ided tha t in the fu ture a l l records centerbui ld ings construc ted under i t s auspices would be equipped withspr ink lers an d smoke de tec t ion devices . I t was thu s na tu ra l tha t N AR Swas concerned with the serious lack of f iresafety provisions in what wasthen the la rges t of the centers in the na t ionwide records center sys tem.T ha t these fea rs were no t un fou nd ed becam e ap pa ren t in Ju ly 1973 .

At s ix teen minu tes and f if teen seconds pas t m idn igh t on Ju ly 12 ,1973, a typica l warm and humid summer n ight in St . Louis , the f i rs ta la rm reached the Nor th Cen t ra l Coun ty F i re Ala rm Sys tem, Inc . , thecommunica t ions l ink for the many f i re d is t r ic ts surrounding the center .T h e call cam e f rom the Ol ive tte F i re De par tm en t . Tw en ty secondslater another alarm call was received via the direct f ire phone located inthe center , th is one f rom a guard who had been not i f ied of the f i re byan uniden t i f ied motorcyclis t pass ing the bui ld ing . O ne m inu te an d tenseconds af te r the f i rs t ca l l , th ree pumpers and two o ther emergencyvehic les f rom the Community Fire Pro tec t ion Dis t r ic t were d ispa tched


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to the scene. Fo ur mi nu tes an d twenty secon ds af ter th e fi rs t ca ll , twotrucks w ere on the scene. By 12:34 A.M. at least one fireman was onthe f i f th f loor and repor ted heavy smoke and ext reme heat on the s ix thfloor. T h e con t inu in g s t r eam of r ec ord ed com mu nica t ion s t ra ff ic b ear stest im ony to th e s tr en uo us efforts to f ight th e f ire. As ala rm aftera larm was sounded, including a s ix th a larm at 1 :34 A.M., m o r e a n dm or e f ire dis tr icts arr ive d on th e scen e. Eve ntually forty-two f iredis t ric ts we re involved in f ight ing th e f ire. T he se me n we re u n d e r theco m m an d of Co m m uni ty F i r e P ro tec t ion Dis tr ic t Ch ie f Jo h n Ge r tkenan d his de pu ty , J o h n K en ned y, the f ir st senior f ire co m pa ny of ficial toa r r ive on the s cene .Ini t ial efforts to f ight the f ire involved snorkels pouring water from

the ex te r io r pe r imete r o f the bu i ld ing and hose companies work ing onth e six th floor. A t 1105 A.M. f iremen on that f loor reported that heavysmo ke ma de it imposs ible to locate the source of th e f ire . M enremained on the s ixth f loor f ighting the f ire from the inter ior of thebui ld ing unt i l 3 :15 A.M., when cond i t ions de te r io ra ted to the po in t tha tthe in te rna l f iref ighting ha d to be ab an do ne d. T h e m en w ere pul ledback from th e s ixth f loor. Fo r th e ne xt two day s, the ir efforts w ereconf ined to pour ing water on the f i re f rom outs ide the bui ld ing.By 6 A.M. the f i re companies on the scene were having di f f icul tyget t in g suff ic ient water pre ssu re . At 6 :12 A.M. a r eques t wen t to the

water company to increase the pressure i f a t a l l poss ible , and e ightminutes la ter the f i re was spreading across the ent i re length of thebu i ld in g . Shor t ly before 9 A.M. an o th er cal l fo r inc reased wate rpressure was i ssued, but by 10:31 A.M. t he en t i r e roof o f the bu i ld ingwas on f ire. By 11:22 tha t m o rn in g the west wall on the s ixth floor wasleaning s ix to e ight inches f rom the ver t ical .D ur in g the day, as f iremen co nt i nu ed to be pla gu ed by low eredwater pressure , concern grew s teadi ly about the spread of the f i re tolowe r f loors of th e ce nte r . At 5:36 P.M. i t was repor ted that f i re wasspreading in the eas t s ta i rwel l , and shor t ly af ter 9 P.M. t he re was word

that the roof was completely involved and that i f the f ire was notcon trol led i t un do ub ted ly wo uld sprea d to the f if th floor.T h ro u g h a con t inuo us flood o f wa te r to the top f loor du r in g Ju ly 13 ,however , f i remen were success ful in keeping the f i re f rom spreadingo nt o ot h er f loors . By 2:44 A.M. on the m or ni ng of Ju ly 14, for the fi rs tt im e in forty-e ight ho ur s , f i remen w ere on th e s ixth f loor. Sho rt lybefore noon that day the dr ive shaf t , c lu tch bear ings , and gears fa i ledo n a p u m p e r t r u c k t h a t h a d b e e n o p e r a t i n g w i t h o u t i n t e r r u p t i o n f o rm ore than fo rty hour s . T he n , a t 4 :49 tha t a f t e rn oon , a fire wasdiscov ered in the s ix th f loor vau l t , an d i t s do or was o pe ne d to a l lowf iremen access. T he y pro m pt ly ex t ing uish ed the blaze . O n the after -no on o f Ju ly 15 , heavy smok e beg an po ur ing f rom the sou thw es tco rne r o f the bu i ld ing , and firemen were d i spa tched u p a l ad de r todire ct m o re w ater on th e f ire. T h e n u m b e r of f ire-fighters at th e scen edwind led , and by 8 :49 A.M. o n t h e m o r n i n g o f t h e s i x t e e n t h o f J u l y ,only on e co m pa ny re m ain ed . Official ly , as far as the f ire d ep ar tm e nt


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526 TH E AMERICAN AR CH IVIST ~ OCTO BER 1974

was concerned , the cr is is was over , bu t the long days of recovery andrehab i l it a t ion were ju s t beg inn ing .Fighting the f ire was not the only activity on July 12 and subsequentdays. M any diff icult decisions ha d to be m ad e, decisions tha t wouldaffec t the en t i re federa l government and eventua l ly mil l ions ofAm erica ' s ve tera ns . As go ve rnm ent off ic ia ls a r r ive d f rom W ashin gtonand other locations, the f irst s low, hesitant steps toward recoveryb e g a n .An essential f irst s tep was sto pp ing the mail . Each day the Na tiona lPersonnel Records Center rece ives thousands of requests for informa-t ion and processes thousands of new mil i ta ry serv ice records ar r iv ingfor the f irst t ime . In or de r to s tem the f low of inco m ing requests a ndreco rds , ins t ruc t ions wen t to a ll go ve rnm ent agencies ear ly on Ju ly 12ask ing them to ho ld pend ing sh ipmen ts and reques t s fo r in fo rma t ionunt i l fur the r not ice . A l tho ugh th is ac t ion caused conside rable ha rd-sh ip both to government agencies and to the U.S. Posta l Serv ice , thefull cooperation was gratifying.

A no th er m ajor task was the salvaging of vital rec ord s. Several i temsof grea t im po rtan ce were rem ove d from the cent er on Ju ly 12 . Firstwere the computer tapes tha t serve as an index to a major segment ofthe center ' s ho ld in gs . Sim ultaneously , p lans were m ad e for off -s itecomputer opera t ions so tha t the center could resume a t leas t somerefer enc e ac tivi ty as soon as poss ib le . Valuable oper a t in g record s ofthe cen te r were rem oved a t the same t ime . A no t he r g r ou p o f ma te r i -a ls removed f rom the bui ld ing consis ted of more than 100 ,000 ree ls ofmicrof ilm of m or nin g rep or ts f rom the Arm y, 191 2-59 , an d the AirForce , 194 7-59 . T h e value of these microfi lm copies was em pha sizeddramat ica l ly when i t was de termined af te r the f i re tha t the heavies tdes t ruc t ion had taken p lace among the Army and Ai r Fo rce reco rdscove r ing the sam e t ime span . T h e microfi lm suffered da m age , inc lud-ing some image loss and splice weakening, as a result of the highhum id i ty and tem pe ra t u re in s ide the bu i ld ing . A second copy o f thefilm was available for use in reconstructing and replacing the lostsegm ents of the f ilm. T h e am ou nt of image loss was qui te smal l, be in gsomething less than 5 percent .

Other actions taken in the f irst days after the f ire included theissuance , on Ju ly 23 , 1973, of a Fed era l Pro per ty M ana gem ent Regula-t ions Bul le t in (FPMR B~3g) , d i rec t ing a l l federa l agencies to suspendimmedia te ly the d isposa l of any records tha t might be used to reconst i -tut e mili tary service da ta. Pri or to form al issuance of the bulletin ,info rm al notice ha d be en sen t to all involved agen cies. T h e first FPM RBulle t in has been modif ied subsequent ly and the res t r ic t ions eased ,pe rmi t t ing no rma l des t ruc t ion o f r eco rds excep t fo r those con ta in inginformat ion re la t ing to serv ice in the Army, 1912-59 , and the AirForce , 1947-63 .The es tab l ishment of an In teragency Mil i ta ry Personnel RecordsPol icy Working Commit tee to de termine a l te rna te sources of the in-


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ch ar re d piles of ash. Aisles bet w een shelving row s w ere f il led withdebr is s tacked up as much as three fee t , and severa l inches of watercovered the f loor.Water was the cause of the most ser ious problems in the center a f te rthe f ire was ex t in guis hed . Mil lions of ga l lons we re po ur ed in to thebuilding, and every one of the center 's s ix levels had several inches ofwa ter s tan din g on the f loor . T h e sum m er in St . Louis is no t no ted fori t s modera te t empera tu re , and the h igh hea t and humid i ty combinedrapid ly with the s tanding water to c rea te a s i tua t ion r ipe for the growthof m old. Since pa pe r is easily da m ag ed by m old, a thymo l solution wassp rayed th r ou gh ou t the cen te r to p reven t the lo ss o f add i t iona lreco rds . W ater dam ag e was heavies t on the fi fth f loor wh ere thebot tom row of a group of Coast Guard records was comple te ly soakedby wa te r . O the r wa te r -dam aged reco rds were sca t te red th rou gh ou tthe bui ld ing , espec ia l ly near u t i l i ty a reaways and poin ts where majorin te rna l p ipe ru ns pe ne tra ted the floor s labs . W ater f lowed dow nthrough the building freely and did so for some time after the f ire wasout . T o stop spo rad ic rek ind ling , the con trac t f iremen w ere sti ll usi ngwa ter on the sixth f loor unti l la te Jul y. In addit i on , br ok en wate r lineson the sixth f loor continued to f lood the building unti l the laborioustask of loca t ing p ipe runs could be comple ted and the f low of waters t o p p e d .

The f i re had ru ined the in terna l u t i l i ty sys tems in the bui ld ing ,partic ularly the electr ical system. T h e two major ban ks of escalators,the two f re ight e leva tors , and the s ingle passenger e levator wereheavi ly damaged, severe ly complica t ing the removal of wet recordsfrom the bui ld in g . A sp ir i t o f ingenu i ty cam e in to p lay , how ever ,shor t ly a f te r the f i re , when i t was d iscovered tha t the rubber handra i lsof the esca la tors , covered with generous amounts of a wel l -knownliquid de terg ent , ma de excel len t conveyor s lides f rom the up pe r f loorsof the cen ter . W et reco rds we re rem ove d f rom the she lves , reb ox edin to new center car tons , and then rap id ly moved down the esca la torguide rails , assisted gently at each level by personnel in a human chain.Eventua l ly an ex terna l e leva tor , known as a "buckhois t ," became theprosaic but efficient replacement for the escalator guide rails .S imul taneous ly , e f fo r ts w ere und e rw ay to de t e rm ine wha t r ec o rdswe re des t ro yed in the f ire an d what mig ht be reco vere d . A l tho ugheven today the f ina l chapter on the recovered records has not beenw rit ten , the si tuation as i t un fo ld ed in Jul y 1973 indic ated t hat only 10pe rc en t of th e 22 mill ion per so nn el jack ets stored o n the sixth f loor atthe t im e of the f ire could be rec ov ere d. T h e first visit to the sixth f loorby damage a ssessmen t t eams ind ica ted tha t the Army reco rds , 1912-59 ,had su f fe red the g rea te s t damage ; the Ai r Fo rce reco rds , 1947-63 , fo rperso ns with sur nam es beg inni ng with the le tte rs I th ro ug h Z, we re lessser ious ly affec ted ; and records of Army personnel d ischarged be tweenJa n u ar y 1 an d Ju ly 11, 1973, ha d surviv ed th e f ire with very li t tle loss.These recent Army records were loca ted a t one end of the f loor on theperimeter of the building and were accessible to the f iremen's hose


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5 30 TH E AMERICAN ARC HIVIST - OCTOBER 1974

Fire department snorkels fighting the fire. Note the outward deflection of thesixth floor curtain wall.


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Shelving crushed by the collapsed roof of sixth floor records storage area.


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532 THE AMERICAN ARCHIVIST ~ OCTOBER 1974


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534 TH E AMERICAN ARCH IVIST - OCTOBER 1974

Shelves and ashen records. Approximately six cubic feet of records were oneach shelf.


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RECORDS CENTER FIRE S3S

Escalator being used to convey water-damaged records from the fifth floor.


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536 TH E AMERICAN AR CHIV IST - OCTO BER 1974

Walter W. Stender and Center Director Warren B. Griffin (in background)removing vital operating records during the fire.


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54 -1 TH E AMERICAN ARCHIVIST ~ OCTOBER 1974


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RECORDS CEN TER FIRE 543

s t r e a m s . Later , as the demol i t ion opera t ions began , i t was d iscoveredtha t a cons ide rab ly l a rge r nu m be r o f reco rds t han expec t ed ea r l i e r hadsurvived the fi re .Off ic ia l s o f the Nat ional Archives and Records Serv ice be l ieved tha teve ry poss ib l e e f fo r t shou ld be made to re sume nea r -no rma l ope ra t i onsas qu ick ly a s poss ib l e. I t was im po r t an t t o m an ag em en t tha t p e rso nne lre tu rn t o work wi thou t l o ss o f paya conce rn sha red by the employees 'un io n . T h e s ta ff re tu rn ed to work on Ju ly 23 an d a ssembled on thelawn for a br ie f ing . W ork then beg an in the cafe ter ia bu i ld ing tha thad been used pr imari ly as a t ra in ing and assembly area before thef ire. Even un d e r these adv ers e con di t ions , it was poss ib le to beg inprocess ing reference requests pending a t the t ime of the f i re and notd e s t r o y e d .

Othe r immed ia t e pos t - f i re ac t i ons i nc luded a t empora ry reo rgan iza -t ion of the cen ter ' s s ta ff and a s izeable increase in the number ofem ployees . T h e reo rgan iza t ion , e f fec ti ve Aug us t 13 , e s t ab li shed aRecords Recovery Branch wi th pr inc ipa l responsib i l i ty for the recovery ,re s to ra t i on , a r rangemen t , and desc r ip t i on o f f i re - and wa te r -damagedreco rd s . In add i t i on , t he Arm y , Navy , and Ai r Fo rce Refe renc eBranches , p rev ious ly sepa ra t ed , were merged in to two Refe renceBra nch es , on e day t im e and on e n igh t t im e , each han d l in g the func t ionsp rev ious ly pe r fo rm ed by the se rv ice -a li gned b ra nch es . T h e Recove ryBranch a l so opera ted on a two-sh i f t bas i s .Wi th the cen ter ' s s ta ff back a t work , a l though in temporary and lessthan op t imum work ing cond i t i ons wi th no food se rv i ce , l imi t ed d r ink -ing wa te r , and ex t reme ove rc rowding , a t t en t ion was t u rned to l onge r -range recovery opera t ions , inc luding the demol i t ion of the s ix th f looran d the invest iga t ion of th e cause of the f ire. A wa rd of a demo l i t ioncon t rac t t o t he Alber ic i Co ns t ruc t ion Co m pa ny on Ju ly 23 mar ked thebe gin nin g of a s ign if ican t pha se in the recovery effor t . Becau se of thesevere damage on the s ix th f loor , severa l a reas were ex t remely hazard-ous to en ter . In som e p laces , access was impossib le becaus e of thecol lapsed roof. Other a reas were off l imi t s because of the buckl ing

ou t w ard o f t he ex t e r io r wal l. As a re su l t , da m ag e a ssessmen t ha dcovered only those areas of the floor which could be visi ted withoutexp os ing the s ta ff t o u nd u e haza rds . W he n the con t rac to rs began thel abo r ious , dange rous , and t ime-consuming t a sk o f demol i sh ing andremoving the sixth floor, i t became possible for the fi rst t ime tode te rm in e cond i t ions in som e prev iously inaccess ib le a re as . I t ha dbeen expected tha t des t ruc t ion , par t icu lar ly in the cen ter of the bu i ld-ing, would be almost total , with l i t t le possibi l i ty of recovering anyr e c o r d s .The f i rs t s tep in the demol i t ion involved breaking up the remains of

the roo f s lab . Us ing j ac kh am m ers , t he wreck ing c rew firs t b rok e u pthe conc re t e , l eav ing on ly a m esh o f s tee l re in fo r c ing rod s . T he n ,us ing ace ty lene torcheswith f i re hoses s tanding by to prevent anypossible rekindl ing of the fi re from flying sparksthe crew cut the steelmesh in to sec t ions which could then be lowered over the s ide of the


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544 TH E AMERICAN ARC HIVIST ~ OCTOB ER 1974

bui ld ing . Large boom cranes were used to lift "d um ps ter " type con-tainers to the roof where they were f i l led with debris , lowered to theg round , p laced on t ruckbeds , and removed to a dumping g round .After the roof s lab was demolished and removed in a par t icu lar a rea ,f ront loaders (smal l bu l ldozers) and backhoes were p laced on the roofto lift an d rem ov e the fire-damaged shel ving un its .At this poin t , an inte resti ng con dition was discov ered. It waslearned tha t in the most heavi ly damaged areas of the bui ld ingareaswhere the she lv ing uni ts had been mel ted by the hea t and the roof hadtota lly co l lapsedsome rec ords could be recove red . I t ap pea rs tha t aswater poured on the sixth f loor, the water level must have reached adepth of s ix inches or more , thoroughly soaking the boxes on the lowershelves and pr eve nt in g the m from igni t ing . T h e lower row of boxeswas pro tec ted fur ther when, as the f ronts of boxes on upper rows ofshelving burned off , the contents of the boxes spil led into the aisles.Al though much of what sp i l led out ign i ted and burned , a consider-able amount fell into the water-fi l led aisles, fai led to ignite , and at thesame t ime provided addi t ional insu la t ion for the bot tom row of boxes .T h u s , reco ver y of m ate rial in the aisles, ag ain in severely fire-damagedareas , was possible. A lth ou gh th e recovery of any rec ord s was wel-come news, the magni tude of the ef for t increased grea t ly as thedemoli t ion progressed and as ever- increas ing quant i t ies of re la t ive lyundamaged we t r eco rds were d i scove red .

Investigation of the cause of the f ire began even while the f lameswe re rag in g th ro ug h the s ix th f loor . Shor t ly a f te r the outb reak , agentsf rom the Federa l Bureau of Inves t iga t ion sought ev idence of a rson .The FBI inves t iga t ion , l ike o ther subsequent inves t iga t ions , could notdetermine precisely the f ire 's cause, point of origin, or t ime of ignit ion.The destruction was such that i t is unlikely that the cause can ever befully de ter m ine d . How ever , every effor t has bee n m ad e to learn asm uc h as possible abo ut the f ire an d its origin s. A detaile d exa m ina tionof i t s causes and background by a Genera l Serv ices Adminis t ra t ion AdH oc Co m m itte e on the F ire , established on July 13, also failed toun cov er any info rm atio n ab ou t th e f ire's cause. A series of extensiv ein terv iews with near ly a l l the persons in the bui ld ing dur ing the n ightof Jul y 11 an d th e early mo rn in g ho urs of Ju ly 12 also failed to tur n u pany significant eviden ce. Several perso ns w ho left the sixth f loor jus tpr ior to midnight ind ica ted to the s ta f f members of the Ad HocCommit tee tha t they not iced noth ing wrong when they le f t the f loor .Similarly, none of the investigations revealed any evidence ofme chan ical causes of the f ire. A lth ou gh i t is possible tha t an electricalfa i lure of some type might have s ta r ted the b laze , the des t ruc t ion of thebuilding structure and the mechanical systems on the sixth f loor wassuch that it was impossible to isolate a definite cause.As more than ten thousand cubic fee t of wet records were removedfrom the lower f loors of the bui ld ing and as the addi t ional thousandsof cubic feet of records that suffered both f ire and water damage weretaken from the sixth f loor, NARS officials found themselves facing the


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la rges t r ecord s d ry in g op era t io n ever un de r t a ke n . A t em po rary f ac il-i ty was es tabl ished a t the Civi l ian Personnel Records Center , sometwelve mi les f rom the mi l i tary center , us ing has t i ly cons t ructed dryingracks as sembled from she lv ing co m po ne n t s ava il able the re . Rec ordswere r emoved f rom the bu i ld ing , sp rayed wi th a thymol so lu t ion toprevent mold, and then loaded on t rucks for shipment to the c ivi l iancen ter . Eventual ly , p las tic mi lk car ton baskets we re use d. W ha t wasinit ial ly a small supply of these baskets increased unti l the collect ionnu m be re d some th i r ty tho usa nd . T he baske t s we re idea l ly des igne d ,not only for open-shel f drying, but for the more sophis t icated dryingsys tem which eventual ly replaced i t .

Some days af ter the f ire, NARS off icials learned of the exis tence ofvacuum-drying faci l i t ies a t the McDonnel l Douglas Aircraf t Corpora-t ion instal lat io n in St . Lou is . D ev elo pe d as a pa rt of this na t ion 's spaceef for t , the chamber used in drying the wet records had or ig inal ly beencons t ruc ted in o rder to s imula te cond i t ions in ou te r space dur ing theground tes t ing of space sys tems used in the Apol lo ser ies of spaceshots .A lth ou gh f reeze dr yin g is a widely used tec hn iqu e em plo yed in therehabi l i ta t ion of wet records , books , and ar t objects , vacuum drying i san entirely different process which has proved to be successful indry in g r ecord s . Co ns iderab le m isun der s t an d in g ex is ts in the pub l i cmind abou t the vacuum-dry ing p roces s , no t to be confused wi th thef reeze -drying proc ess . T h e la t ter proce ss is par t icula r ly useful wh enmater ia ls mus t be held in a f rozen s ta te in order to prevent moldg r o w t h a n d d e t e r i o r a t io n . I n fa ct, t e m p o r a r y a r r a n g e m e n t s w e r em ad e for ref r ig erate d f re ight cars to be placed on a s id ing ne ar themi l i t a ry cen te r , shou ld they be needed in the r ecovery opera t ion ; bu tthe success of vacuum drying made the use of the cars unnecessary .The vacuum-dry ing p roces s o f f e r s many advan tages , e spec ia l ly whendeal ing wi th large quant i t ies of mater ia l .

With near ly ninety thousand cubic feet of records to be dr ied , thedi f f icul t s i tuat ion a t the St . Louis center would have been more compl i -cated i f i t had not been for the success of the vacuum-drying sys tem.As soon as the f irs t tes ts were completed sat isfactori ly, the drying of therec ord s pro ce ed ed on a pr ior i ty bas is. Use of the fir st ch am be r a tMcDonne l l Douglas was supp lemented even tua l ly by the use o f twoaddi t ional chambers and f inal ly by the use of a s imi lar chamber a t aNat iona l Aeronau t i cs and Space Admin i s t r a t ion f ac i l i ty in Sandusky ,O h i o .T h e wa teran d f ire-damaged re co rd s w ere plac ed in plast ic milkcar ton containers and then were s tacked nine high on for ty- inch byfor ty- inch w oo de n pal le ts an d loa ded direct ly in to th e ch am be r . Attha t t ime , the mate r i a l is a t am bien t ( room) t em pe ra t u re . Ai r isevacua ted f rom the chamber by a s t eam e jec to r un t i l t he t empera tu rein the ch am be r reac hes the f reezing point . T h e ch am be r is th en filledwi th hot dry a i r and purged wi th th is a i r unt i l the wet mater ia l i sw arm ed to 5OF . T h e num be r o f cycles r eq u i r e d de pe nd s on the


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init ial we tness of the ma terial . T h e effect iveness of this proc ess isindicated by the fact that dur ing a typical loading of one chamberho ld ing two thousand mi lk con ta iner s , approx imate ly e igh t pounds o fwate r were r emov ed f rom each con ta ine r . Th us a to ta l o f near ly e igh ttons o f wa te r was r em ove d d ur in g each cha m ber load ing .In add i t ion to r ecover ing and d ry ing r ecords , o ther s ign i f i can t ac -t ions we re take n in or de r to spee d the recovery ef for t . Access to mos tof the personnel records received by the center s ince the ear ly 1960 's i sth ro ug h the use o f a com pute r - con t ro l l ed index . Th i s system grea t lyfaci l i ta tes prompt reference service by enabl ing center s taf f to deter -mine the exis tence and locat ion of a service record wi th a minimum ofdifficulty. Sh ortly afte r th e fire, it was de cid ed to estab lish a ne wcompute r index tha t would inc lude a l l o f the r ecords r ecovered f romth e fire-damaged sixth floor as well as tho se wh ich ha d su ffe red w ate rda m ag e . T h e new co m pu te r inde x o r r eg is t ry was na m ed the "B " file .As r ecords were d r i ed , they were e i the r r e tu rned to the mi l i t a ry cen te ro r s en t to the c iv i l i an cen te r where keypunch opera to r s p reparedpunchcards used as inpu t documents fo r the compute r sys tem.Keypunching has cont inued on a double shi f t bas is s ince shor t ly af terthe fire . O ne bypro duc t o f th is ope ra t ion is a co m pu te r -g en era te dlabel which i s a t tached to a f i le fo lder containing the recovered anddr ied r ecords . Th ese fo lders a r e then boxed an d r e t u r ne d to theshelves. By the end of J u n e 1974 vi r tual ly a ll of the recov ered rec ord swe re inclu ded in the "B " regis t ry sys tem. C ur re nt es t imates indicatetha t more than 4 .5 mi l l ion r ecords have been r ecovered .

Recons t ruct ion of service data in response to reques ts for informa-t ion has bec om e a ma jor activity at th e ce nte r s ince the f ire. T hi sr econs t ruc t ion is no t wi thou t p rec ede n t . A lexa nde r the Grea t f acedthe s ame prob lem when , dur ing one o f h i s campaigns , a t en t con ta in -ing valuable records was des t royed by f i re and he had them recon-s t ructed by di rect ing his f ie ld commanders to supply copies of theor de rs an d oth er ins t ruct ion s they ha d received. T o fulfill th is impo r-tant funct ion, a second reorganizat ion of the center s taf f was ef fectedon Dec em ber 28 , 1973 . I t r e tu rn ed the cen te r to the s ame organ iza -t ion, general ly , that exis ted pr ior to the f i re ; therefore the s taf f mem-bers who are specia l i s t s in the personnel records of a par t icular mi l i taryservice are once again us ing thei r knowledge to the bes t advantage.T h e re was on e s igni ficant d i f ference the es tabl ishm ent of a Record sInput and Recons t ruct ion Branch, wi th major respons ibi l i ty for solvingthe refere nce pro ble m s cause d by the f ire. Af ter resum ing l imi tedreference service in Augus t , on records other than those involved inthe f ire , the cen ter bega n accep t ing, on O ctob er 23 , 1973 , requ es ts forinfo rm at io n f rom all reco rds hold ings . An swe r ing these f ire-relatedreques t s by means o f a l t e rna te sources o f in fo rmat ion i s a t ime-consuming process wi th great ly increased expendi tures for s taf f andequ ipm ent . For ma ny years to com e the p rob lem s caused by the firewi l l resul t in increased operat ing cos ts .


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Recons t ruct ion of service data requi res the use of microf i lmed morn-ing r epor t s and many of the o ther a l t e rna te sources o f in fo rmat ionloca ted by agenc ies wi th membersh ip on the In te ragency Mi l i t a ryPer sonn e l Rec ords Po licy W ork ing Co mm i t t ee . In add i t ion to them o r n i n g r e p o r t s , t h e r e c o r d h o l d i n g s o f t h e V e t e r a n s A d m i n i s t r a t i o nare be ing used ex tensive ly . A r ra ng em en ts have bee n m ad e fo r d i r ec tacces s to the VA cen t r a l i zed compute r index in Aus t in , Texas , and am an ua l in pu t to th is sys tem was be gu n on Oc tob er 23 , 1973- Successwi th th is operat ion led to the ins ta l la t ion of a communicat ions l ink fordi rect inp ut to the co m pu ter . S ince Fe bru ary 4 , 1974, the sys tem hasprov ided twen ty- four -hour r esponse on r egu la r r eques t s and t en- tof ifteen-minute res po nse on pr ior i ty requ es ts . T h e excel lent coo pera -t ion f rom the VA and o ther government agenc ies in making r ecordresources ava i l ab le fo r r econs t ruc t ion purposes has made the cen te r ' stask less difficult.

N ot all of the p rob lem s faced in St . Lo uis s ince Ju ly 1973 ha veinvolved reference act iv i t ies , records recovery , or organizat ionalc h a n g e s . A s igni f icant ques t ion has been the resolut ion of the spacepro ble m wi thin th e bui ld ing . Loss of th e s ix th floor create d a majorproblem in a bui ld ing a l ready ut i l ized for records s torage to a fargre ate r de gr ee tha n was or ig inal ly ant ic ipate d. A l th ou gh it was firs tbel ieve d that , f rom th e s tan dp oi nt of spac e, th e loss of th e s ixth f loorwas less s ignif icant because of the paral lel loss of nearly 400,000 cubicfeet of records , th is assumpt ion does not take in to account that ,a l though the r ecords a re gone , the need to per fo rm a r e fe rencefunc tion s ti ll exis ts . T h e s ixth floor, in ad di t io n to re co rd s, co nta ine dapproximately 27,000 square feet of of f ice space to which more than250 em ploy ees we re ass igned . T h e nee d for space was cr it ical .

With the help of the project manager and other in teres ted of f ic ia ls ,p lans were worked out which enabled the center to meet i t s spacenee ds for a t least two years . Ce r ta in access ioning funct ions we ret ransfer red to the c ivi l ian center , o ther tenant agencies were re locatedinto previous ly underut i l ized space in the center ' s cafeter ia bui ld ing,and a careful , cr i t ical analysis of other space al locations resulted in theavailabil i ty of 17,300 square feet of records s torage space and nearly10,000 square feet of off ice space.The rehabi l i ta t ion of the bui ld ing, d ic ta ted by the severe f i re dam-age , will resu lt in a bu ild ing m ee tin g th e f iresafety s ta nd ar ds that th eNa t ional Arch ives an d Reco rds Service has lon g adv oca ted. F i re wallsand a sprinkler system wil l be instal led, off ice areas wil l be modernized,and addi t ional areas of the bui ld ing wi l l be a i r -condi t ioned, includingthe area wh ere the rec ord s rec ov ere d f rom the f ire will be s to red .Th i s i s e spec ia l ly impor tan t because a l though the mold spores everpresen t in the a i r a r e dormant as a r esu l t o f the vacuum-dry ingprocess , the summer weather in St . Louis i s such that react ivat ion couldoccur i f t he r ecords were s to red in un-a i r - cond i t ioned space wi thou tpr op er hum id i ty con t ro l . Al t e rna te m eth od s o f mo ld con t ro l , i nc lud-


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548 TH E AMERICAN ARC HIVIS T ~ OCTOB ER 1974

ing steri lization, ar e prohibit ively expen sive. As a result , it will benecessary to moni tor the condi t ion of the recovered records verycarefully during the next several years.These , then , a re some of the long- term problems caused by the f i re ,as they affect the internal operations of the center; but the mostsignificant impact undoubtedly will be upon America 's mill ions ofvet era ns. Every effort has be en ma de to lessen this imp act, bu t the rear e si tuations today whe re delays occ ur an d difficult ies result . In spiteof the best efforts of all concerned, cases will arise where the absence ofmedical records, destroyed in the f ire and not available from any othersource , may resu l t in har dsh ips . Since the res um ptio n in Octobe r1973 of reference service on records involved in the f ire , the numberof such cases has been only a small percentage of the thousands ofrequests rece ived . I t is ho pe d tha t both the sho r t - te rm inconv enienceand the long- te rm impac t can be reduced to a min imum.

To assume that the effects of the f ire will not continue to be felt inthe years to com e, how ever, would be overly optim istic . Pri or to Ju ly12 , 1973, for example, 17 percent of the reference service involvedrequests for inform at ion f rom W orld W ar I recor ds . Since m ore th anfifty years have elapsed since the end of that war and since the fireinvolved rec ord s of mili tary service as rece nt as 1963, i t is obviouscertainly, that the reference service operation will be affected for manyyears . Dramatically increased costs of operation are but one aspect ofthe fire 's impact.Not everything about the f ire is negative, however, a l though i t is easyto lose sight of this in a disaster having the scope of the one in St.Louis . We learned about the rehabi l i ta t ion of f i re - and water-damagedreco rds . T he vacuu m- dryin g process prov ed to be emin ent ly success-ful in taking sodden fi le folders of records and drying them so thateac h page coul d be easily se pa ra te d. It was so successful, in fact, tha tthe f irst rec ord s proce ssed wer e too dry . Eventua lly the dry ing cyclewas modified so that an acceptable level of moisture remained in thefiles to prevent bri t t leness.

We now are aware of the ex is tence of many a l te rna te sources ofinform at ion co nce rn in g Am erica 's ve teran s . T h e mil l ions of fi lesmain ta ined by the Veterans Adminis t ra t ion are now used constan t ly aswe seek to provide informat ion to persons whose records were de-stroye d in the f ire. L on g un us ed reco rds of draft regis tratio n fromWorld War I now are used to document serv ice in the armed forces .Many of the records retained by state archival agencies are provingvaluable as we con t inue t he recons truc t ion effort .We will finally have a facility meeting existing firesafety standards.The rehabil i ta ted building will have firewalls to divide the large, openreco rds s torage areas . Sm oke de tec t ion and spr inkle r sys tems willpro vid e furth er pro tecti on against a rep eti t ion of the Jul y 12 fire.Using s tandards developed by the Genera l Serv ices Adminis t ra t ion andsubsequent ly adopted by the Nat ional Fire Pro tec t ion Associa t ion , thebuilding will be protected as fully as it can be against fire.


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As a resu l t o f the f i re a l so , the Adminis t ra tor o f Genera l Serv ices hases tab l i shed the Advisory Commit tee for the Pro tec t ion of Archives andR e c o r d s C e n t e r s . T h i s i m p o r t a n t g r o u p h e a d e d b y W i l f re d I . S m i t h ,t he Domin ion Arch iv i s t o f Canada , and cons i s t i ng o f rep resen ta t i vesfrom organiza t ions such as the Socie ty of American Archiv is t s , theAmerican His tor ica l Associa t ion , the Nat ional Fi re Pro tec t ion Associa-t i o n , t h e L i b r a r y o f C o n g r e s s , a n d t h e Am e r i c a n R e c o r d s M a n a g e m e n tAssocia t ionis expected to make a s ign i f ican t cont r ibu t ion to thelong- soug ht goal o f a ll a rch iv is t s an d re co rd s ma na ge rs : to ta l f iresafety .

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Cladire Afectata Foc - English