Blaze guts Center City skyscraper; three killed

An inferno which burned a Center City skyscraper for almost 19 hours was brought under control yesterday, but only after it gutted nine floors and killed three firefighters. The 12-alarm fire at a bank building across from City Hall was officially declared under control at 3:01 p.m., Philadelphia fire officials said. The fire began at approximately 8:30 p.m. Saturday night on the 22nd floor of One Meridian Plaza, just southwest of City Hall. The billowing clouds of smoke were visible from campus and for miles throughout the city. Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Roger Ulshafer said firefighters battled the blaze in the 38-story building for about 11 hours before a structural engineer warned them the top 20 floors of the charred and soot-covered building could collapse. Firefighters then evacuated to the 15th floor and hoped sprinkler systems on the 30th and 32nd floors would halt the fire's advance, he said. There were no sprinklers between the 22nd and 30th floors, officials said. The firefighter's battle was complicated by failures in the building's electrical system, backup generators and pumping system, Ulshafer said. Elevators couldn't be used, so firefighters had to stretch six 5-inch hoses by hand to the 22nd floor, he said. "By the time we got them up there and got enough water, the fire was three floors above our heads," he said. The firefighters who died, all members of Engine 11 at 6th and South streets, were identified as 52-year-old Captain David Holcombe, a 28-year veteran; 44-year-old firefighter Phyllis McAllister, a 10-year veteran; and 29-year-old firefighter James Chappell, a four-year veteran. They apparently became disoriented in heavy smoke and were trapped on the 28th floor, according to Ulshafer. They originally radioed they were in trouble on the 30th floor and their oxygen tanks ran out before rescue workers found them two floors lower, he said. He said they apparently broke a window, but were unable to get enough oxygen to survive. At least 12 firefighters were injured with two hospitalized in stable condition. Mist from the firefighters' hoses could be felt almost a block away from the blaze and in the main concourse leading from the 15th Street subway stop to the street. Only the northern exits from the subway remained open. The fire forced officials to close the busy traffic square where Market and Broad streets loop around City Hall. Traffic on other downtown streets was heavy most of the day. Firefighter Ralph Capaldi, of Engine 46 in Northeast Philadelphia, said the blaze was the largest he has seen in his 18 years on the force. Capaldi estimated that over 50 percent of the city's firefighters were at the fire, coming from as far as Northeast Philadelphia, Roxborough and Germantown. Police kept several hundred bystanders -- many filming the fire with home video cameras -- over a block from the burning building and far from falling debris. Early Sunday morning, bystanders were allowed to stand on the Northwest corner of Market and 15th Streets, but just before noon, several mounted police and others on foot forced the crowd to the far north edge of the plaza, in front of the Municipal Services building. One Meridian Plaza houses the Philadelphia regional headquarters of Reading-based Meridian Bancorp Inc. and several other offices. The building is managed by Richard Rubin & Co. and Judy Morse, a spokeswoman for Rubin, said she did not know who owned the building. Meridian issued a statement Sunday saying managers were meeting to discuss resumption of business. The building housed administrative and support functions but was not a money-transfer center, spokeswoman Cathy Souders said. Officials said they knew of no one in the building when the fire began. Fire Battalion Chief Bernard Dyer said the cause of the fire was unknown. Ulshafer was unsure of when the building was constructed but said it was built before 1981, when stricter requirements for sprinkler systems were enacted for new high rises. The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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