Pentagon rescue efforts continue as hundreds feared dead

1:30 p.m. -- The Pentagon opened for business today less than 24 hours after terrorists drove a commercial airliner into the building, killing untold scores of Defense employees. The area of the Pentagon where the aircraft struck and burned sustained catastrophic damage. Anyone who might have survived the initial impact and collapse could not have survived the fire that followed, Pentagon officials said in a briefing Wednesday morning. When the aircraft crashed into the Pentagon it reportedly was carrying several thousand gallons of jet fuel, which caused an intense fire in the immediate crash area. Reconnaissance efforts conducted overnight indicate that there are no survivors in the immediate collapsed area. Listening devices used by firefighters did not provide any information. It is doubtful that anyone in the immediate impact area survived. Pentagon officials declined to provide any information about the number of potential casualties or about current military operations or intelligence that might explain who was responsible for the attack. Ed Poaugher, the Arlington county fire chief, estimated that casualties could be anywhere from 100 to 800, but said there's not enough good information to tell yet. Pentagon spokeswoman Torrie Clark said the Defense Department's top priorities were to care for the injured and dead, ensure the safety of the country from further attack and determine who was responsible. Efforts to recover the airline's black box are planned, but are not yet a top priority, Defense officials said. The military services have established rosters of personnel to determine the unaccounted for. "We do not have solid casualty information," Clark said. Officials also declined to say which offices were in the immediate crash area. The Office of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel was believed to have been affected, but Army officials said they did not have enough information to say for sure. Army logistics and installation and Navy personnel offices are also thought to have been in this area affected by the crash. The offices most affected were those under renovation, which made it difficult to gauge who would have been in them. Defense officials are working with building contractors to determine where offices have been relocated during renovations, according to Major Gen. James Jackson, the commanding general of the Military District of Washington. The E ring, the outermost ring of the Pentagon, collapsed where the aircraft hit, but it is the only ring that has collapsed so far. Personnel working in Corridors 2 through 6 were advised to contact their supervisors before returning to work. Many offices in corridor 7 have been affected by water poured in from rescue efforts, according to a Pentagon spokesperson. Army Col. Stephanie Hoehne, a public affairs official, said the Army public affairs offices were adjacent to the affected site and suffered fire and water damage. Everyone in her office has been evacuated and accounted for, Hoehne said. The Defense Department has established a Pentagon family assistance center at the Sheraton Crystal City hotel. The assistance center is for military and civilian personnel of all branches. Families should go there and not to the Pentagon for information, officials said. The phone number for the Sheraton is 703-486-1111. Support personnel who visited military families after the USS Cole bombings are staffing the center. Those personnel drove up from Norfolk last night to operate the center. The center is also staffed by social workers, chaplains, and personnel from all the services, according to Meg Falk, an official in the office of the undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness. The Pentagon is certainly back in business, but it's not business as usual. Military personnel are walking around in fatigues with their weapons showing. Firefighters at the Pentagon are still fighting fires, many of which are along the building's roofline. Firefighters continue to fill the interior courtyard, and an acrid yellow haze lingers over the building. Helicopters are flying overhead and parking lots are filled with tents and tractor trailers from support groups such as the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, search and rescue groups and volunteer firefighters from across the nation. The U.S. Army's Old Guard, has been deployed to the Pentagon and is securing corridors and providing general assistance. Old Guard soldiers conduct military ceremonies at the White House, the Pentagon, national memorials, and elsewhere in the national capital region. At approximately 12:15 p.m., Pentagon officials evacuated the building after reports that the fire was spreading. The evacuation order was rescinded shortly thereafter. According to Poaugher, the Arlington county fire chief, fires near the roof are harder to contain because of way the Pentagon is built, with a partly wooden attic and a slate roof. Poaugher reported some fires in corridors and said some fuel has reignited.