Pentagon Fire Led to Toxic mold

March 14, 2002

Pentagon's Sept. 11 Repairs Ahead of Schedule

Thu Mar 7, 8:59 PM ET

By Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pentagon (news - web sites) repairs are going so well

that a morale-boosting milestone is within reach: the project's chief said

on Thursday people could be working in finished offices on Sept. 11, 2002,

at the exact place where a hijacked plane crashed through a year earlier.

Dubbed the Phoenix Project, the $740 million effort to demolish and rebuild

areas damaged in the Sept. 11 hijack attack, is months ahead of schedule,

project director Lee Evey told reporters.

" Our intent is at the point of impact ... we will have that not only

reconstructed, we will have the furniture, furnishings and equipment back in

and we will have people in that portion of the building, accomplishing their

mission, doing their work on Sept. 11 of this year, " Evey said.

A countdown clock visible outside the building is focused on 9:38 a.m. EST

Sept. 11, the exact anniversary of the moment hijacked American Airlines

Flight 77 slammed into the building, killing all 64 people on the plane and

125 on the ground.

The aircraft smashed into one side of the Pentagon, plowing through three

outer rings in the building, which is made up of five concentric rings

around a pentagonal courtyard. The outermost ring is known as E Ring, and

that is where tenants are expected to be resettled by Sept. 11.

The resulting fire produced heat intense enough to melt window glass, Evey

said, and water used to douse the flames resulted in toxic mold.

In the end, some 400,000 square feet (37,160 square meters) of office space

had to be demolished and rebuilt, Evey said.

Demolition did not begin until Oct. 18, because of a scheduled ceremony at

the Pentagon to mark one month after the Sept. 11 attack.

Initial estimates said it would take from two to eight months to demolish

the damaged area; it was finished in one month and a day, Evey said.

Reconstruction was similarly speedy, he said, with initial work schedules

being updated to show greater progress than expected, putting the work

months ahead of early projections.

One reason for this was a round-the-clock work schedule that continued

through Christmas. Since then, workers have been on the job at the Pentagon

20 hours a day, six days a week, Evey said.

Recommended Posts