Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 28, 1991 TAG: 9103280516
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
One Marine guard was treated for smoke inhalation, according to embassy spokesman James Bullock. Several Soviet firefighters apparently also suffered respiratory problems. But no other injuries were reported.
Flames emerged from the building's eighth floor and roof, the top six floors appeared heavily damaged, and the blaze was still burning six hours after it began. A dense cloud of smoke rose above the building, which is about a mile from the Kremlin.
Bullock said the alarm sounded at 10:15 a.m. and that everyone inside the building was quickly evacuated. Soviet firefighters were granted immediate access to the interior, Bullock said.
Several embassy employees said the fire began in an elevator shaft that was being renovated.
Although U.S. officials declined to comment about how embassy operations were affected, the fire appeared serious and likely to close sections of the building for a long time.
Smoke was seen coming out of the residential wing of the building, but the extent of damage there was unknown. Bullock said emigration documents in the north section of the embassy were not damaged.
The structure, which has housed the U.S. Embassy since 1953, has been the source of controversy for several years.
Two members of Congress said in April 1987 that the building was "a firetrap and unsafe by accepted standards for general working conditions."
A major renovation was under way when the fire broke out. Embassy employees have described difficult conditions trying to work in the deteriorating structure during the overhaul.
The blaze occurred during a tense standoff outside the Kremlin.
Police deployed by the central government faced demonstrators supporting Russian republic leader Boris Yeltsin, who was being challenged in the Russian legislature by supporters of President Mikhail Gorbachev.
Bullock said the cause of the fire had not been determined, but an employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it appeared to be an electrical fire that broke out near the elevator shaft. Another witness said the fire began at the bottom of the shaft, then flared to upper floors.
Soviet workers built a new embassy for the United States, but it was found laced with electronic listening devices, making it unsuitable for use.
U.S. officials have been studying whether to modify or replace the new building, and it was not immediately clear if the fire would have any bearing on the decision.
by CNB