NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
INCIDENTS
Independence NHP
Smoke Impacts To Second Bank Considered Serious
On the morning of January 13th, park dispatch received a smoke alarm from the main floor gallery of the Second Bank. Rangers were on scene within minutes and discovered heavy smoke filling the main floor gallery space.
Rangers confirmed that the building was evacuated, determined that the origin of the fire was in the mechanical room in the basement, and guided Philadelphia Fire Department firefighters to its location. The fire was quickly extinguished.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the fire was started by a mechanical malfunction in an air handler, which in turn ignited combustible materials within the unit. Smoke traveled through the building's exhibit space via the ventilation system. The park is still investigating how the fire originated and why smoke circulated through the building.
Although there were no injuries and no significant damage to the structure, smoke heavily impacted most areas of the building, including the portrait gallery which houses 195 portraits, many of them by 18th century artist HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Willson_Peale" Charles Willson Peale. Damage to the building, other than the failed air handler itself, resulted from heavy toxic smoke that has covered almost all surfaces in the building, including the ventilation system, the carpets, marble interior features, and the portraits.
Though nothing has been permanently damaged, a significant amount of cleaning and conservation work on the portraits and other collections housed in the building is anticipated. The building will likely remain closed for several months.
[Patrick Suddath, Chief Ranger]
OTHER NEWS
The following stories are among those in today's webpage editions of InsideNPS (available to NPS employees only) and the Morning Report (available to all readers):
Park Facility Management Division - Submissions are now being accepted for the next issue of Sustainability News, published by the Sustainable Operations and Climate Change Branch of the Park Facility Management Division. The deadline is January 30th.
Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs - This week's update on past and upcoming hearings, newly introduced bills, and the status of legislation of interest to the Service. This report covers activities in Congress through January 16th.
To see the full text of these stories, readers should go to one or the other of the following sites:
NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index
Non-NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/
The Morning Report is produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov).
--- ### ---