Fire at State Department day care building
A fire hit the State Department building that houses the day care center early Tuesday morning, but no injuries were reported. "A fire early this morning in SA-1 (State Annex 1) Low Rise has caused significant water damage to the 5th floor and below," read a notice from the office of emergency management. "The entire ...
A fire hit the State Department building that houses the day care center early Tuesday morning, but no injuries were reported.
"A fire early this morning in SA-1 (State Annex 1) Low Rise has caused significant water damage to the 5th floor and below," read a notice from the office of emergency management. "The entire Low Rise is closed today, including the child care center. The Hi Rise should be open at 9:00 AM today. Underground parking will be available at that time."
A State Department official told The Cable that the cause of the fire appeared to be electrical, and the sprinkler system extinguished it. The investigation and damage assessment is ongoing, and there’s a lot of water from the sprinklers all over the building.
Federal News Radio reported that the fire was extinguished by 7:30 AM, and it was not clear if anyone was inside the building at the time. The building is part of the Columbia Plaza complex, adjacent to the campus of the George Washington University.
The Low Rise may be opened up for a short period of time later today so employees can retrieve personal items, the OEM notice said. But the day care center will remain closed.
"Among other things, the (SA-1) Low Rise houses Diplo-tots, our day care center for employee kids, so we have some little visitors at Main State today unexpectedly helping out moms and dads," the State Department official said.
Josh Rogin covers national security and foreign policy and writes the daily Web column The Cable. His column appears bi-weekly in the print edition of The Washington Post. He can be reached for comments or tips at josh.rogin@foreignpolicy.com.
Previously, Josh covered defense and foreign policy as a staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, writing extensively on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, U.S.-Asia relations, defense budgeting and appropriations, and the defense lobbying and contracting industries. Prior to that, he covered military modernization, cyber warfare, space, and missile defense for Federal Computer Week Magazine. He has also served as Pentagon Staff Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily newspaper, in its Washington, D.C., bureau, where he reported on U.S.-Japan relations, Chinese military modernization, the North Korean nuclear crisis, and more.
A graduate of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Josh lived in Yokohama, Japan, and studied at Tokyo's Sophia University. He speaks conversational Japanese and has reported from the region. He has also worked at the House International Relations Committee, the Embassy of Japan, and the Brookings Institution.
Josh's reporting has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, CBS, ABC, NPR, WTOP, and several other outlets. He was a 2008-2009 National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow, 2009 military reporting fellow with the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the 2011 recipient of the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter: @joshrogin
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