It should be noted that the University eventually realized repairs of close to $3M - kmk
	Worker Is Critically Injured in U-Md. Fire Physics Building Suffers $250,000 In Damage Mary Otto Washington Post Staff Writer   October 28, 2002; Page B3
	An electrical fire on the University of Maryland campus yesterday left one employee critically injured and caused an estimated $250,000 in damage to the John S. Toll Physics Building, authorities said. The fire started shortly before 11 a.m. in an electrical panel in a utility room in the physics building as five electrical services workers were installing a line, Prince George's County Fire and EMS spokesman Mark Brady said. Four of the workers managed to flee the building, but the fifth was trapped, Brady said.
	"Two university police officers made a valiant attempt to rescue him but were forced back by heat," Brady said.
	The cause of the fire is under investigation.
	The officers were able to relay the man's exact location to Prince George's firefighters who arrived on the scene, Brady said. The worker, identified by a university official as Kurt Tassche, 44, was taken to the burn unit at Washington Hospital Center, where he remained in critical condition late yesterday.
	Three firefighters and a university police officer suffered from smoke inhalation, Brady said. They were transported to a hospital where they were treated and were expected to be released.
	The process of rescuing the worker and extinguishing the fire, which heavily damaged the first-floor electrical utility room, took about 15 minutes, Brady said. Crews remained on the scene throughout the day, monitoring and ventilating the building.
	Because the electricity in the entire structure was turned off, fire officials, accompanied by hazardous materials experts and university staff, walked through the lab to check on the safety of experiments that were in progress.
	"Some experiments, if allowed to overheat, could present a health concern," Brady said.
	No such problems seemed apparent by midafternoon, said Fred Welsh, chief of College Park Fire Station 12.
	The scientific validity of some experiments probably was compromised as a result of the power outage, said Physics Department Chairman Jordan Goodman. "Some will lose months of work," he said. But he added, "Someone was badly injured. The other things we'll deal with. We feel for the person who was hurt and his family."
	The building, still without power, will remain closed today, Goodman said.

Kurt Tassche Memorial
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