Charleston Sofa Super Store – Could it Happen To You? I was driving to work in midtown
Manhattan on a bright, sunny, June 19th morning when I heard the news
come across the radio that six firefighters had possibly perished in a
roof collapse in Charleston, S.C., the previous evening. I picked
up the phone and, although it was seven in the morning, called my
county fire coordinator and thirty-year friend Gordon Wren to give him
the bad news that it happened again. The reason I said “again” was
because it brought back memories of the tragic Hackensack Ford fire of
Fifteen years ago, I started working at the Rockland County Fire Training Center, and one of my first assignments was to work on the county Incident Command S.O.P. and get it out to the twenty-six departments in the county. What we knew fifteen years ago and what we still know today is that fine departments such as Hackensack, New Jersey, and Charleston, South Carolina, do not plan to have firefighters die in fires. Our immediate concern is to not let them die in vain, because what we may learn from these tragic events might well be what saves one of our firefighters tomorrow. This article is not intended to insult or to Monday-morning-quarterback either of the above departments, rather to take a look at the similarities of both fires and the tactics that may have led to the firefighters deaths. Each of us knows that something like this could happen in any of our departments today. Those who feel that it cannot are dreaming. The nature of our business is hazardous. Even those with the best training and experience available sometimes don’t come home. Gordon suggested that I investigate what was starting to appear from the various agencies and fire-service magazines. When finished I would make a presentation for the county fire chiefs at one of their monthly meetings. The reason for the presentation was clear. We knew it could happen here. Both fires had many similarities, starting with the fact they were both extensively covered by video and audio recordings. I don’t think there is a department in this country that hasn’t seen the Hackensack video. We used it in our county for years for both lightweight construction classes as well as the Incident Command System (ICS) training. Command Being an East Coast firefighter for thirty-seven years, I have heard every excuse imaginable for not using an incident management system. I came from the era when the chief would stand behind you at the door to the fire building, prompting you with his foot to “get in there, and put the damn thing out.” No air packs, no bunker gear, and definitely no proper incident management system. With the fires of thirty-odd years ago, many of us were lucky. Today’s fires, as we know, do not allow such practice; and every time we revert to the old ways, we take a chance of being on the front page of every fire magazine in the country. And most unfortunate is that every time we try this approach, we take the chance of standing in front of flag draped coffins, wishing the outcome would have been different. I spent ten years in my volunteer department at the chief's rank, and I don’t think a day has gone by that I didn’t think of the firefighter killer structures that were in my first-due area. I was also a chief during the time that the Incident Command System (ICS) was being implemented in our county. The day of the “command post” had arrived, and the change had its beginning among the twenty-six departments in our county. Of course, change comes slowly; but most departments caught on and started the transition to the ICS. Some departments have done better than others, but let’s face it: it’s easier not to do the proper thing than the hard thing. That is until the unthinkable occurs. When teaching ICS, I start the class with the Hackensack fire. The department operated at that time as most departments that I knew of did. The chief was all over the place, trying to get a look at the fire from all angles and transmitting and receiving on his portable radio. The word "sector" had not been used on a fire scene, and a safety officer did not exist in any department in the area. We sometimes have to learn hard lessons through the pain and hardship of our firefighters and their families. One of our local chiefs to this day says, “That’s not the way we do it in our department.” I wish him and all the members of his department well and hope I never have to attend a funeral for one of his firefighters. I also hope he doesn’t have to stand in a court of law and defend his actions in front of a jury. If you think that yesterday's firefighting is going to be accepted by today’s standards, you are wrong. There’s a reason they call us the bravest and not the brightest. Communications Last night, I presented a “Managing the Mayday” class at the Rockland County FTC with a friend Dave Russell. During the presentation, we constantly pushed the importance of proper communications. I tried to get across to the members in attendance the great assistance a chief’s aide can be at the scene of an incident. With today’s multiple radio frequencies and the need for more units on the scene such as FAST/RIT teams, one incident commander just cannot keep up with all the tasks at hand. The day of the super chiefs are over. If we have learned anything through these two tragic events, it’s that the man or woman in charge needs help. Sector officers, safety officers, staging officers, and interior officers should be giving a constant flow of information to make sure that all of our firefighters come home safely. If you are not working under an incident management system in today’s fire service, I can say only one thing: “Shame on you!” Tactics So what happened in Charleston? One of the first things that one has to notice is the collapse of the truss roof. On first look, I thought I knew exactly what happened — that the metal joists reached their failure temperature, dropping the roof and killing the firefighters. I obtained the audio from the fire scene, which told me much more. When I originally looked at the timeline printed in the newspapers, showing flashover and collapse in fourteen minutes, I thought: "No way." When I listened carefully to the tapes, it became evident they were working with a very fast-moving fire in a building with a tremendous fire load. Who doesn’t have at least one of these types of buildings in their first-due area? During a recent discussion with other firefighters, someone commented how the fires of today are not like the fires of twenty years ago. I said the fires of today are not like the fires of seven years ago. The fire loads of some of these building today are beyond belief. A building such as the Sofa Super Store or any commercial building housing a bulk of household furniture is going to be a tough job. Think for a minute of your fire protection district. I’ll bet you already have said the name of the business that you feel poses the most danger to your firefighters. Do you have a public storage facility where people store everything known to man, without our knowledge, usually in lightweight construction buildings? Of course, we have these dangerous buildings in our area, and always will. The question we must all ask ourselves is: When are we going to stop killing our firefighters over these buildings? These structures that are thrown together in no time can be rebuilt, but we cannot bring our beloved brothers and sisters back. Of course, after the tragic event, we will don our uniforms and raise the ladders with the flag. The pipers will be there, as will the color guards; and we will all pay our deepest respects to our fallen brethren. Tomorrow we will return to our firehouses and speak of how it could have been avoided, yet we will go out on a call and act in a manner that will put ourselves and our partners in jeopardy. We owe it to our families and ourselves to try and slow down and act in a manner that does not cause our demise. Within minutes of the initial alarm, in both Hackensack and Charleston, there were chiefs on the scene reporting heavy smoke from the building. There is a photo of each fire taken from the front of the building that look identical. Although Charleston did not have the bowstring truss, it did have heavy black smoke issuing and bar-joist-truss construction. The fire in Charleston moved much faster than the one in Hackensack, moving through the rear of the building and into the showroom area within minutes. In Hackensack, it was confined initially in the attic area (truss space) where car parts had been stored. In both fires, the initial line called for was an inch and a half attack line. Within four minutes of arrival of first-due units in Charleston, the on-scene chief was reporting that the fire was in the building. One of my favorite sayings in the fire service is, “Big Fire, Big Water.” Today’s fire loads call for larger attack lines for commercial establishments. An old friend of ours who worked with us and is still looking down on us would always say, “There is nothing more important than delivering the proper amount of water on the seat of the fire.” Andy Fredericks would drill it into our heads and argue with anyone who said different. Many of our recent tragedies never would have made the papers had the correct line been on the fire. Many of our friends still wear the shirts with Andy’s saying, “If you put the fire out, you don’t have to jump out the window.” We just cannot put enough emphasis on proper hoseline selection and placement. Each time I have left the computer to do something else while writing this article I have gone back to look at one of the memorial videos that was made after Charleston. Chief Rusty Thomas, on the day of the funeral, made a heartbreaking statement, “These were my best friends. I lost nine of my best friends.” I firmly believe the chief spoke the truth and, if he had a chance, would do anything in his power to avoid another catastrophe. Life doesn’t work that way though, and the best we can do at this point is to learn from their sacrifices and move on. We are early into 2008 at this writing, and as of today there are already fourteen line-of-duty deaths. Be careful. Take care of each other and remember that your family expects you home tonight. Be safe. © Copyright Firenuggets.com 2008 • Click here for Terms and Conditions of Use
|
||||||
