DALLAS, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Three maintenance workers were killed Thursday in a fire at a high-rise office building in Dallas.
The men were working in the basement of the Thanksgiving Tower, the area where the fire was located, Jason Evans, a spokesman for the fire department said. Their bodies were only found after smoke cleared in the area.
The building was evacuated when the fire was reported shortly before 10:30 a.m. Evans said about 2,800 people were there at the time.
The fire went to three alarms. At least two people were taken to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
In the afternoon, people who had been working in the building were told they could make trips to their offices to retrieve personal items.
Fire officials said at an afternoon news conference that they were unsure of the exact point where the fire began and of its cause. It was originally believed to have started in an electrical unit in the basement.
The fire was reported in the basement. Evans said the men who died, who were employed by a subcontractor, Best Mechanical, were in a storage tank in the building's ventilating and air-conditioning system.
The men were known to be missing for several hours, but their bodies were only found after the heavy smoke in the basement had cleared.
The 50-story tower was completed in 1982 and was briefly the second-tallest building in the city. The Tower Club is located at its top.
