When you read the NY Times story, take note of the following:



The fire, which reached seven alarms, began around 6:20 a.m. on Saturday. But firefighters had also been called there two hours earlier for a smaller fire in the same location, which they found had been contained by the building’s sprinkler system. The firefighters then shut down the sprinklers [my emphasis--Fred] to prevent further water damage to the paper records, and because sprinkler heads must be replaced after discharging water.

By the time the second emergency call came in, the sprinklers were offline, and the blaze was already large enough to draw scores of firefighters.

“It’s a building full of fuel,” Mr. Nigro said. “Once it got started, it was difficult to extinguish, especially under the extraordinarily rough conditions for the firefighters, with the extreme cold and strong winds.”



Because the story is focussed on the risk of exposure to confidential documents, these important paragraphs are located near the end of the article.



Fred

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Frederic J. Grevin

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