Peak season rush heats up with fire in Girard center!

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!

Sounds like you have a real mess on your hands. congradulations to everyone for pitching in and
"doing what needs to be done". A true UPser!
Our customers will appreciate your concern and
will understand if their packages are delayed due to the fire. By the way...what started the fire?

Absolutely horrifying, after delivering next day air I looked like I slid through the chimney to deliver most of them. After powerwashing vehicles the soot is still everywhere, and the smell is horrifying. No one was hurt, no packages were damaged, but it will be a peak to remember. the parking lot was like a NYC street. Towing companies, fire and restoration vehicles, electrical contractors, everywhere. But in true UPS form we all did the best we could. AS GMAN said, Seasons Greetings, and tomorrow should be real challenging.

That fire did bring out the best parts of UPS culture an comitment. I was one of about 50 folks they brought in from all around the region to help dig out. I had about 45 minutes notice to pack my things and get down there. Two days later, everything was more or less caught up. I don't think there are many companies that could recover so quickly or maintain service during the busiest time of year given such a setback.

It was the outside center people who came to help us that helped us survive this horrendous event, the people like Jeff, at least we got to go home (eventually) and see our families. they were there for whatever we needed. I actually got my former supervisor from 12 yrs ago to go jump with me at 6pm at night, made it more fun than work. it was great to catch up on family, etc. And we all aprreciated the help. We have a great center with great people, and although its still a mess, it will get better. I have to agree that there are probaly not any companies who could come close to catching up the way we did, and it was mostly because they have all done the same thing and the sense of urgency never leaves you once it is instilled. Someone brings donuts, coffee, gloves, food. someone gets a spare moment and they are still thinking, how can I help?, and they run out and do it. It refortified me to see the comraderie and committment, and makes me be glad to be part of this company. It is the great people UPS has, that make it such a great company.

We also had a pkg car catch fire in our bldg.(Dulles, VA). Burned a couple of cars but since it happened on a Sat. night everything was a go for Monday pre-load. Why isn't the automotive dept. doing anything about these cars burning??