Damage estimate to GEF-1 building raised from $350K to $15M; state to pay $3M

July 04--A fire in mid-May at a Downtown Madison state government office building caused an estimated $15 million in damage -- 43 times the Madison Fire Department's original estimate -- the state Department of Administration announced Thursday.

The state will be responsible for paying $3 million of that amount, DOA spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis said.

The fire at the GEF-1 building started in a fourth-floor cubicle early in the morning on May 16. It displaced 1,000 state workers in the Department of Workforce Development and the Department of Children and Families.

The building is insured through the state Bureau of Risk Management's self-funded property insurance program, Marquis said.

The program requires the state to pay the first $3 million per incident with insurance covering any additional damages.

The $15 million figure is based on conversations with the state's insurance provider, Lexington Insurance Company, and could change as remediation and repair efforts continue, Marquis said.

The cost includes removing smoke damage throughout the building, cleaning and restoring documents and work files, relocating employees to various temporary sites, repairing and cleaning the ventilation system, and repairing carpet, ceiling, windows, office equipment and furniture on the fourth floor.

"The City of Madison's estimate does not seem to take into account that the HVAC system runs vertically so that the entire building had smoke damage," Marquis said.

It also didn't take into account the relocation of 1,000 employees and the remediation of their work files in the building.

The Madison Fire Department originally estimated the damage at $350,000. An official with the department did not respond to a request for comment.

The GEF-1 building, built in 1972, did not have a building-wide sprinkler system because of an exemption in the city's fire code requiring newer buildings to have such fire suppression systems. After the fire, Madison Fire Marshal Ed Ruckriegel recommended the state spend $600,000 to fully outfit the building with sprinklers, which he said could have lessened the impact of the fire.

DOA Secretary Mike Huebsch has contacted Ruckriegel to learn more about how the City of Madison retrofitted its public buildings, Marquis said.

"He asked about how they decided which buildings to retrofit first and how they made those decisions, the cost of retrofitting sprinklers, the schedule, etc.," she said. "My understanding is that the secretary has not received a response at this time."

Marquis also reaffirmed Thursday that most workers will be able to return to the building in August. Some areas of the fourth floor may be delayed as repairs are completed, she said.

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