G
gman
Guest
A Sunday afternoon fire at UPS's Girard center will add fuel the the peak season fire about to hit this week. The timing could have hardly been worse. News traveled quickly through the UPS grapevine with drivers and part timers alike coming to the center to give what ever assistance they could to help insure as smooth a peak as possible. Seven package cars and three tractors were completely destroyed with fiberglass and aluminum simply melted to the floor. Electrical and heat sources were out of commission and no word was available as to when it could be restored. Even worse, most of the cars destoyed were the the largest in the building and will be the hardest to replace on short notice.
Drivers first on the scene got as many package cars as they could out of the building as soon as fire officials allowed. The smoke damage was unbeleiveable. Drivers and sups alike took charge to get started at a clean up operation so as to be ready to put cars on the road this morning. Drivers brought in power washers from home and began wahing down vehicles in the lot and a local towing company just down the street offered it's assistance to use its inside facility to try and get things cleaned as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, due to sub freezing temps, most cars had a layer of ice on them as they were being cleaned, but in the true spirit of UPS, everyone kept at it, if only to assure a little less work for them selves in the long run.
With no power and most cars still pretty much undrivable due to smoke damage, an open air sort was set up to process Next Day and 2nd Day Air for delivery. After that, pick ups will be made. Ground packages will have to wait until Tuesday and hopefully we can get most of it out and delivered. The question is how and how long will it take to get two peak days worth of packages sorted and on the road. I'm hoping I won't be standing out in the snow pushing packages down rusty rollers to get the job done.
So when you are out there late for the next few weeks, remember; it could be worse.
Merry Christmas!
Drivers first on the scene got as many package cars as they could out of the building as soon as fire officials allowed. The smoke damage was unbeleiveable. Drivers and sups alike took charge to get started at a clean up operation so as to be ready to put cars on the road this morning. Drivers brought in power washers from home and began wahing down vehicles in the lot and a local towing company just down the street offered it's assistance to use its inside facility to try and get things cleaned as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, due to sub freezing temps, most cars had a layer of ice on them as they were being cleaned, but in the true spirit of UPS, everyone kept at it, if only to assure a little less work for them selves in the long run.
With no power and most cars still pretty much undrivable due to smoke damage, an open air sort was set up to process Next Day and 2nd Day Air for delivery. After that, pick ups will be made. Ground packages will have to wait until Tuesday and hopefully we can get most of it out and delivered. The question is how and how long will it take to get two peak days worth of packages sorted and on the road. I'm hoping I won't be standing out in the snow pushing packages down rusty rollers to get the job done.
So when you are out there late for the next few weeks, remember; it could be worse.
Merry Christmas!
