- 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.
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- The NASA center, one of 11 in the country,
houses many chemical laboratories, which officials say contain materials
that are extremely hazardous when ignited.
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- "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.
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- One of the labs contained anhydrous ammonia,
which can explode if it catches fire and cause respiratory problems, Bowers
said.
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- Bowers said the fire started in a shed
that contains an air compressor and then spread to another building.
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- "Right now it looks as if there
is fairly extensive damage," he said.
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- 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."
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- 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.
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- The 11,000 employees of the center in
Greenbelt, a Washington suburb, conduct research and make or assemble space
craft.
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