A three‐alarm fire broke out in the 11th‐floor offices of the B. F. Goodrich Company in the north tower of the World Trade Center just before midnight last night, and spread through an inner‐service core to the ninth and 14th floors.

“It was like fighting a blow torch,” according to Capt. Harold Kull of Engine Co. 6, who said all of his men “got their necks and ears burned” trying to get into the 11th Floor hall from a stairwell. None of the firemen were seriously injured.

Mainly on One Floor

The fire appeared to be confined primarily to 11th‐floor office equipment, according to Deputy Assistant Fire Chief Homer Bishop. The damage to the service core was apparently confined to electrical wiring in and near the core.

The building is not equipped with a fire sprinkler system.

A total of 24 pieces of firefighting apparatus and 132 firemen fought the fire. Sixteen firemen were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.