The agencies of Natural Resources and Transportation have been working to relocate their employees, after Saturday’s fire at the National Life Insurance complex left hundreds of state employees without a place to work.
Offices on the east side of the Davis Building, from the basement to the fourth floor, were affected by the fire, National Life said, but most of the offices on each floor were left untouched.
Of the 237 Agency of Transportation employees needing temporary office space, 207 will be relocated to other state buildings, and the remaining 30 either will telecommute or work from field offices.
The Agency of Natural Resources found itself with 134 employees without office space on Monday.
“We asked all of them to report for duty at 9 o’clock on Monday morning, with the understanding they would tele-work and/or we reserved conference rooms in unaffected portions of the building and have given folks the option to work there, particularly if they don’t have robust internet connection at home,” ANR secretary Julie Moore said.
About three quarters of ANR employees are telecommuting, Moore said.
Most of the damage Saturday wasn’t caused by the fire, but by the sprinkler response system to the fire.
“The workstation that caught fire was destroyed and it caused damage to some surrounding work stations,” said Ross Sneyd, Corporate Communications Director at National Life. “But the real damage came from when the sprinkler head activated and then just poured water into that space and because it was on the fourth floor it leaked all the way down to the basement.”
This was not a fault in the fire deterrence system, the sprinklers did exactly what they were designed to do, but they also caused the majority of the damage to the building.
No one was injured but the extent of the damage is serious, Sneyd said. At least six to eight weeks will be needed for full repairs and the cost of the damage is still unknown.
In a statement on Tuesday VTrans said a portion of their floor at the National Life complex could be repaired by next Monday, June 11, and another portion repaired by Friday, June 15. Other offices are expected to take about six weeks to repair.
“It is one of the shortcomings of fire suppression systems. Other kinds of fire suppression systems also cause damage, but they saved the building itself. If there hadn’t been a sprinkler there then the fire could’ve spread and caused much more significant damage,” said Sneyd.
While insurance is going to cover the damages to the National Life building infrastructure, the office supplies and anything owned by state agencies will have to go through their own separate insurance.
VTrans employees working in Berlin include the Right of Way section, which will work out of VTTC Room 114 in Berlin. The Asset Management and Performance, Bridge Inspection, PPAID Permitting Section, and the Office of Highway Safety will report to VTTC, Traffic Shop Building, in Room 300, Room 304, Room 305, and Room 306 respectively in Berlin.
The Project Delivery Bureau Director and Administrative Support section will meet in the David C. Dill building A (Maintenance and Operations Bureau) on Airport Road in Berlin. The Structures section and the Utilities section will both be working in David C. Dill building A (Maintenance and Operations Bureau) in the large conference room on Airport Road in Berlin. The Municipal Assistance Bureau will also meet in David C. Dill building A but in the TSMO area.
The Highway Safety and Design section and the Mapping unit will meet in the David C. Dill building B (Materials Lab) also on Airport Road in Berlin.
The Legal section and the Civil Rights section will meet in the National Life Complex on the 2nd floor in the Construction and ADS sections, and the IT conference room respectively.
The Rail and Aviation sections will meet in the Aviation building (Old District 6) on Industrial Avenue in Berlin. The Hearings section will meet at the Department of Motor Vehicles in downtown Montpelier. And the PDB Environmental section will report to the Knapp Airport Terminal in Berlin.
