Fire ruins artifacts, buildings at Flight 93 Memorial Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY 7:55 p.m. EDT October 3, 2014

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/03/flight-93-memorial-fire/16666853/

Fire ruins artifacts, buildings at Flight 93 Memorial
Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY 7:55 p.m. EDT October 3, 2014
AP_Flight-93-Memorial-Fire

A major fire has destroyed three administrative buildings at the Flight 93 National Memorial in central Pennsylvania, where a plane hijacked by terrorists went down on Sept. 11, 2001.

One of the buildings stored some of the memorial's archival and curatorial collections, said Michael Litterst, spokesman for the National Parks Service. Staff was evacuated and no one was hurt in the blaze.

"Of greatest concern are those collections," Litterst said in an e-mail. "Fortunately, only 10% of the Flight 93 National Memorial collection was kept on-site in this building, and many of those objects are stored in fireproof safes. Until the area is declared safe, however, staff will not be able to access the collection storage area and determine the condition of any other objects."

A brother of one of those who died on Flight 93 told Newsradio 1020 KDKA that he was troubled to learn of the fire. has heard artifacts are burning in the flames.

"We (family members) gave a lot of personal stuff to the memorial that we wanted to be shared with everyone," Ken Nacke told KDKA. "The more and more I think about it, the more it becomes heartbreaking."

The fire was reported in the headquarters of the complex shortly after 3 p.m. and high winds whipped the flames, Litterst said.

He called the buildlings a total loss.

"Of greatest importance, all of the staff and volunteers working in the buildings successfully evacuated without injury or incident," Litterst said. "For this, we are extremely thankful."

Flight 93 was headed from New Jersey to San Francisco when terrorists took control of the aircraft. A national 911 commission concluded that the terrorists had intended the flight to crash into the White House or the Capitol and guided the plane to crash into the Pennsylvania countryside after passengers revolted. Thirty-three passengers and seven crew members were on board.