Three workers killed in fire at Thanksgiving Tower in downtown Dallas

[TexasTowelie]

Update at 4:45 p.m. by Robert Wilonsky, Claire Z. Cardona and Tristan Hallman: Jason Evans, spokesman for Dallas Fire-Rescue, says the body of three workers were found following this morning’s fire at Thanksgiving Tower.

The workers were in the basement of the downtown Dallas high-rise working in the thermal storage tank that is part of the heating, ventilating and air conditioning unit beneath the building. Said Evans, it was initially believed to be an electrical fire or a car fire because “the smoke was so thick” it was difficult to tell where it began.

“But when firefighters made their way to the source of the smoke, it turned out to be located in an equipment room, located at the bottom of a 35-foot hatch, on a lower parking garage level,” Evans says.

-snip-

Assistant Fire Chief Ted Padgett said Thanksgiving Tower’s permit for welding, cutting and hot works expired in March of this year. A contractor doing business as “Best Mechanical” at 1601 Bryan Street (the flip side of the same building) also hasn’t had a valid permit to do that kind of work since December 2009, he said.

Read more: http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2014/12/fire-reported-in-parking-garage-at-thanksgiving-tower-downtown.html/