<p>A fire early Thursday outside UPS's main package sorting center damaged several hundred parcels and forced the temporary evacuation of more than 1,000 workers, company officials said.</p><p>Seven trailers on the loading dock caught fire but no one was injured, UPS spokesman Mike Johl said. Some of the trailers were empty, and two trailers suffered the majority of the damage.</p><p>The fire never spread to the 1.5-million-square-foot Chicago Area Consolidation Hub, which employs 8,000 workers and handles 2 million packages a day during the holiday season, Johl said.</p><p>"There was a little bit of smoke damage inside the building, but no one was harmed," said UPS spokeswoman Christine McManus. "The fire department was incredibly responsive."</p><p>The company estimated fewer than 2,000 packages were damaged or destroyed, most of them bound for Denver, New Jersey and DeKalb, Ill.</p><p>"UPS is contacting the customers whose packages were affected so that alternative arrangements can be made, and we are sincerely apologizing for the inconvenience," UPS said in a statement.</p><p>The blaze started around 12:15 a.m. and was extinguished about 3:15 a.m., officials said. Workers were able to return shortly afterward, and normal operations had resumed by midday, UPS said.</p><p>Fire officials did not immediately determine what caused the blaze.</p><p>Atlanta-based UPS has estimated that one in every 10 packages it delivers worldwide between Thanksgiving and Christmas passes through the center in Hodgkins, 10 miles southwest of Chicago.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>www.ups.com</p>
