SEATTLE (AP) — A fire at a Seattle
building disrupted a server farm that
provides service to multiple Web sites,
and affected television and radio
stations that broadcast from the
building.
The small fire broke out around 11
p.m. Thursday in the basement of
Fisher Plaza at an electrical vault
— the section of the building where
city power lines meet the building's
transformers, said Seattle City
Light spokesman Scott Thomsen.
Thomsen said that it appears
equipment failure on the part of the
customer caused the fire.
The fire forced the evacuation of
the building and disrupted the late
night newscast, said Rob Dunlop,
vice president of operations for
Fisher Communications Inc.
KOMO Radio and KOMO-TV are
broadcasting Friday from remote
locations.
Crews from several companies
continue to work to get the building
back on line, officials said.
Dunlop says he hopes stations can
resume operations in the building
later Friday. The stations affected,
which remain on the air, include
KOMO-TV and KUNS-TV and KOMO, KPLX
and KVI radio.
Dunlop said he has no official
word on what caused the fire.
The small fire also affected a
data center in the building,
disrupting service to multiple Web
sites and other Web services. How
many Web sites experienced problems
because of the fire is not clear
yet.
Verizon Communications Inc.
spokesman Jon Davies said the
company's DSL service in the Seattle
area was temporarily disrupted.
Another company affected was
Authorize.net Holdings Inc., based
in Marlborough, Mass. The company
provides credit card services for
merchants.
Authorize.net's Web site was down
Friday morning.
(Copyright 2009 The Associated
Press.)