Small fire hits county records building

Posted on Sep 9, 2010 in Records Management News

Times Leader staff

WILKES-BARRE – City fire­fight­ers on Wednes­day doused a small fire beneath the load­ing dock of the Thomas C. Thomas Build­ing at East Union Street and North Penn­syl­va­nia Avenue.

A Wilkes-Barre city fire­fighter hoses down a fire that erupted under­neath a load­ing dock in the rear of the Thomas C. Thomas Build­ing in Wilkes-Barre around 6:30 p.m. Wednes­day. Luzerne County leases the build­ing for records stor­age. The build­ing is at East Union Street and North Penn­syl­va­nia Avenue.

The fire started in some debris beneath the load­ing dock and was put out within about five min­utes, accord­ing to fire Capt. Robert Fan­non. The cause of the fire, reported just before 6:30 p.m., is under investigation.

The fire was con­tained to the exte­rior of the build­ing, which Luzerne County leases for record stor­age. Com­mis­sioner Stephen A. Urban, chair­man of the county Records Improve­ment Com­mit­tee, said county Chief Clerk/Manager Doug Pape was at the fire scene and alerted the com­mis­sion­ers that there was no dam­age to county records.

The com­mit­tee is con­sid­er­ing con­struc­tion of a new facil­ity to house records after archivists with the state His­tor­i­cal and Museum Com­mis­sion ear­lier this year com­pleted a report that detailed a litany of con­cerns with the Thomas C. Thomas facil­ity, from the dis­cov­ery of cig­a­rette butts on the floor to a lack of security.

The archives experts found tem­per­a­ture extremes that could cause dam­age to the paper, boxes of records crushed under the weight of other boxes and fire hazards.

The county cur­rently pays $103,100 annual rent on the Thomas building.

For more infor­ma­tion Read: http://www.timesleader.com/news/Small_fire_hits_county_records_building_09-08–2010.html

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