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Postal Annex Swept By Fire, 1,800 Flee: 1,800 Evacuated as Blaze Sweeps a Major Postal Station on...
The New York Times (by William E. Sauro)
New York Times (1923-Current file); Dec 16, 1967;
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2008)
pg. 1
Postal Annex Swept I
By Fire, 1,800 Flee.
A lipectacular fire, spouting
flame and smo:',c ti1rough shat-
tered windows into the sub
freezing night, raged through
one of the major postal
last night, destroying
iOns uf Christmas mail.
Some 1,800 to 2,000 postal:
employes were safely evacuatedl
from the Morgan station in I
Manhattan after the fierce, fast./
moving blaze broke out on a
basement conveyer belt a,
around 9:30 P.:'L !
At 3 the flames were
reported still out of control. i
but were cCJntaincd within thel
station, occupying the block be
tween 29th and 30th Streets
and Ninth and 10th r\ vcnues .
. ;-'10:-gao station is primarily dc-
ivoted to handling foreign mail.
3.'10 firemen and .'i0
!P;('cc<; flf equi;:>mf'r'::. :n(:Jdin;!
:?-.I"'
Continued on Page 82, Column 3
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11,800 Evacuated as Blaze Sweeps a Major Postal Station on the West Side
Continued From Page I, Col. 7
pumper, were pitted against the
drill," he said, "We took our abandoned in lockers when the
time until we saw the smoke. alarm sounded-were
,Then everybody started run- ing around the General Post Of- '
ining." , fice seeking the postal employes flames.
At lea,st foul' of the postal
employes, who were working
the 4 P.M. to midnight shift
when the alarm sounded, were
plucked from the flames in
dramatic rescues.
Fire Chief John T. O'Hagan
described the blaze as the
largest single buildin" fire here
in the last 10 to -20 years.
Shortly before 2 A.M. he re-
ported that 10 firemen had suf-
fered minor injuries or smoke
inhalation.
Very little first-class mail is
handled in the Morgan station,
according to 1. Bicofsky, its op-
erations manager. The annex,
which is known as "the New
York gateway," handles 85 per
cent of international parcel
post, magazines and advertis-
ing mail to and from the United
States.
It also is a major terminal for
domestic advertising mail for
New York City, New York
State, New Jersey and Cali-
fornia. And with the General
Post Office, it handles domestic
parcel post entering and leaving
the New York area,
While firemen still fought the
blaze last night and early this
morning top postal officials
The New York TImes (by Willlam E. Sauro
The scene at 30th Street and Tenth Avenue while fire swept through post office branch
gathered in the General Post . . I' .
'Office to plan how to handle the wmd-whlpped, 31-degree. On. !he second floor an un- cars loaded wIth mall were
the masses of mail usually prO-I night without their coats, man who also consumed in the flames, Mr.
cessed at the Morgan station. But a few others were a flashlight to Lowery said, He estimated that
Within half an hour after the! trapped. was also rescued. Trapped, he "thousands of tons of mail
. .' . yelled "I can't get out" But .
fIre . the, structure-sIx! . Among them were Ralph Gar- Ca tain John Hank of were destroyed" in the bUilding.
stones high on Its 10th Avenue, CIa, 52 years old, of Monroe, E . ryc P 18 'th th An intensive investiaation
'd d 10 t' h' h th 'N Y a lect 'c' G rett ngme ompanv WI e '"
N
SI
ethan A s arIes 'dIg on e O;L" n
66
e f 2
rI
g
la
A
n
d;' aAr, aid of two unidentified pOlice-lwill be carried out the Post
m venue Sl e - was eary, ,0 nan \ e- . d t th E Office Department In coopera-
gorged with ..; nue, and Robles, about 30, emergency tion with the Fire Department.
both mechanICS qua ,save 1111. P t I . t 'II h .
Explosion Recalled From the floor of the I Mr Strachan said: "I'm most as a mspec ?b':SI't
WI
f athve p.n.
I k d th ., ;h . d h kf I I t mary responsl I I Y or e In-
A wee ago yester ay, e buIldmg. they sought to reach! appy an very t an u t la quiry since the building is Fed-
Morgan station was the scene the street by the stairs, but to my knowledge no one has
eral
property
of an explosion shattered were driven back by the dark, been seriously hurt." As gained headway
parcels acrid sn:oke boiling: up at them. the explosion. last against the flames at Morgan
Injured eIght persons work- Mr. 0 unchpI?ed a two- week II'! the Morgan statlon- station, other companies cov-
109 on the fourth f!oor. battery SIlver flashlIght from rated WIth the General Post Of-ered the General Post Office at
. night's.f
1re
mounted his belt a!1d it to attract fice', Grand Central Post Office i31st Street and Eighth Avenue
In mtenslty. traffIc-except for the attentIOn of firemen below. and the Church Street Post Of- i to prevent the spread of flames
and. some postal men signaled fice as in th.e'llb
Y
draft through a tunnel link-
vehIcles-was dIverted from theIr plIght, fIremen of Ladder city-offlclals saw no Immedl-ling the two buildings.
the area bound on the north by C0I!lpany 25 thrust an ate c,onnection between it and Some 1,500 persons who
34th Street" on the south by aerIal ladder toward the Wlll- the fIre. .. were assigned to the midnight
23d Street, on the east by Sev- dow where the men were gath- Fire CommiSSioner Lowery shift at Morgan station were
enth Avenue and on the west ered. On top of the ladder was said "at this time there is no diverted to the General Post
by 10th Avenue.. a ISfoot scaling ladder-a pole indication of foul play." The Office .
. the scene were FIre Com with cross struts. With this the ,observation was made after Mr. Among the evacuees from
i
mls,slOner Ro?er,t O. Lowery. :men were reached and they iStrachan reported that two c!n- Morgan station was Robert
PolIce CommIssIoner clambered to safety. IP!oyes who the fIre Handley, 26, a mail handler
R. Leary and New York CIty On the ground, they con- h.act It WIth hand ex- who was working on the first
Postmas.ter John R. Strachan, I fessed their terror and ex- tmgUlshers. floor when an alarm was
who saId the blaze the pressed gratitude for being I The Morgan station also has sounded.
largest knew of In local saved. irail facilities. and six or eight HI thought it was a fire
postal hIstory.
Taxing the Fire Department
in the early stages of the battle
against the flames devouring
the 32-year-old postal facility
was another fire that broke out
a short time earlier at 238 West
20th Street, between Seventh
and Eighth Avenues in the
Chelsea section.
I While firemen were attack-
ing that blaze, the first alarm
came in from the Morgan
branch, where flames and
heavy smoke were enveloping
a conveyer belt that snakes
underground. carrying parcels
to and from the General Post
Office at 31st Street and
Eighth Avenue and to and from
the Pennsvlvania Railroad.
Workmen Fight Fire
The, conveyer belt, made of
flame-retardant canvas and rub-
ber coursing over lubricated
bearings, is formally known as
the Midtown BB Railroad Line.
Postal officials said workmen
in the basement first fought
the flames with hand extin-
guishers but then turned in an
alarm. Fifteen minutes aftcr
that alarm, the Fire Department
sounded a second alarm, and 15,
minutes later jumped to a fourth!
alarm. I
A fifth alarm was sounded I
within minutes, and a borough
call went out, bringing equip-
ment from Brooklyn and the
Bronx to fill in for Manhattan
equipment now engaged in the
l
two West Side fires.
,Almost all of the postal
workers....;...some thinking they:
I
were taking part in another of.
the periodic fire drills- were i
evacuated from the building in
I an orderly fashion, although
Imost found themselves out
Three weeks ago, he saId, forced into the cold by the
"they pulled a fire drill on us." blaze.
He shook his head. "Last week Mr. Strachan said there had
the bomb and then this," been between 10 million and
Last week's explosion in the 11 million pieces of mail in the
Morgan station, which look building when the fire began.
place when a clerk tossed He announced that mail and
carton into a hamper for mall personnel would be diverted to
destined for Cuba, was the the three other major facilities
second of that week in a in Manhattan and to one
ropolitan area post offIce. Long Island City. He also saId
Three days four that the bulk of overseas mail
sons were Injured-one serI- had already been
!1 package ex gan Station is primarIly used
plode? as It slId down a chute for handling such mail, although
In N. J. ,. it also handles some domestic
Last nIght s earlier fIre m shipments,
Chelsea y.ra.s brought Early this morning Mr.
control wlthtn an hour afte: It Strachan was closeted witlf top
began, at 9:07, but some flre- aides laying plans to handle
fighting equipment was mail 'that would normally have
to stand by as a precautIOnary been assigned to Morgan Sta-
measure. tion
More than three hours after . ___ , __________ _
the Morgan station fire began.
relatives of the workcrs--carry
ing coats to replace those