SIGHTINGS


 
Fire Breaks Out At
NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center - Extensive Damage
8-20-98
 
 
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) -- A fire caused extensive damage at the Goodard Space Flight Center on Thursday, but firefighters averted even worse problems with hazardous materials. No injuries were reported.
 
 
The NASA center, one of 11 in the country, houses many chemical laboratories, which officials say contain materials that are extremely hazardous when ignited.
 
 
"We were able to stop the fire within a hundred feet of the laboratories," said Chauncey Bowers, a spokesman for Prince George's County Fire Department.
 
 
One of the labs contained anhydrous ammonia, which can explode if it catches fire and cause respiratory problems, Bowers said.
 
 
Bowers said the fire started in a shed that contains an air compressor and then spread to another building.
 
 
"Right now it looks as if there is fairly extensive damage," he said.
 
 
The cause of the fire was not known. Bowers said the National Aeronautics and Space Administration did not allow fire investigators to immediately survey the damage because "the building does contain some sensitive material."
 
 
Goddard spokesman Jim Sahli said he was not certain what was inside the building and said he could not put a dollar amount on the damage.
 
 
The 11,000 employees of the center in Greenbelt, a Washington suburb, conduct research and make or assemble space craft.





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