Hundreds Flee Empire State Building Fire

A smoky electrical fire forced hundreds of office workers and tourists to flee the top 16 floors of the 102-story Empire State Building Friday and caused authorities to clear the historic landmark’s observation decks.

The two-alarm blaze briefly knocked out seven radio stations that transmit from the spire of the limestone and aluminum skyscraper, and 40 fire engines summoned to fight the blaze clogged streets around the structure.

On a 93-degree day, relays of firemen, hampered by stifling heat, difficult communications and low water pressure, took almost two hours to bring the fire under control.

At least four people--three firemen and an office worker--were injured, none seriously.

The fire began in an electrical box at the foot of a utility shaft on the 86th floor of the building--the same floor as an open observation deck, and heat rose up the shaft to ignite a second blaze on the 102nd floor, where an enclosed observation deck is situated. Tourists from both decks were evacuated by elevators to the street, where they joined lunch hour crowds watching 120 firemen at work.

Firemen rode elevators to an operations center established on the 84th floor of the building, then were sent up the stairs in teams to battle the blaze.

‘Great Amount of Smoke’

Heavy smoke made the firefighters’ task difficult. “It was tough, there was a great amount of smoke,” said fireman Alph Williams of Rescue 4 as he emerged sweaty and sooty from the skyscraper.

Homer Bishop, acting chief of the fire department, said water pressure in the 57-year-old building was inadequate because one of the structure’s pumps failed. He said firemen found their walkie-talkies did not work well inside the skyscraper and were forced to use the building’s telephone system to relay information about the blazes.

“It was very smoky. It was a very hot day,” Bishop told reporters in the gray marble lobby of the building. “There was no panic.”

While office workers agreed that there wasn’t any panic, many admitted to something like high-level nervousness.

Alerted by Fire Alarm

Herma Rosenberg said she was alerted to the blaze both by a fire alarm and by the fire warden on her floor--the 79th--where she works for a mail order firm. With co-workers, she walked down stairs to the 66th floor, then took an elevator to the street.

“I was a little breathless--the nerves,” she said. Simone Dobson, Rosenberg’s assistant, had gone out to lunch moments earlier and couldn’t get back into the building.

“Some people haven’t gotten paid yet,” she said regretfully.

Smoke and flames were not visible outside the 1,250-foot skyscraper, which for many years had the distinction of being the tallest building in the world. In New York City, it is now overshadowed in height--but not fame--by the twin 110-story towers of the World Trade Center. Millions of people around the world grew to recognize the Empire State Building through the movies when King Kong made his last stand atop the skyscraper.

Hit by B-25 Bomber

The worst actual disaster to strike the structure took place on July 28, 1945, when a U.S. Army B-25 bomber, off course in fog, crashed into the 79th floor. Eleven civilians and the plane’s three crewmen were killed and 26 people were injured by flaming gasoline. The accident occurred on a Saturday when most offices were empty.

Bishop said damage from Friday’s fire was basically confined to the electrical closet and the electrical shaft, making it unnecessary to clear the entire building.