Nine firefighters die
New station to honor firefighters who died
A Charleston fire station taking shape on Bees Ferry Road will be more than just brick walls, a metal roof, a place to park fire trucks and rest between calls.
In some way, the station will pay tribute to the nine firefighters killed in the June 18 Sofa Super Store fire. At this early stage, nobody can say what form that tribute will take: a plaque, a memorial or something else altogether.
Construction should be finished in a little more than a month.
"It's the first new station since the tragedy," said Steve Coe, a partner in Charleston-based Rosenblum Coe
Architects, the firm handling the project. "I was actually struggling with what my firm's responsibility is going to be."
The city approved the $1.6 million station last year. It sits between West Ashley's Glenn McConnell Parkway and S.C. Highway 61, across from the entrance to Hickory Hill Plantation. When completed, it should cut response times to Shadowmoss, Grand Oaks, Village Green and MacLaura Hall.
The station will house Engine No. 19, which lost three men in the fire: Capt. William Hutchinson, Engineer Brad Baity and Firefighter Melvin Champaign.
Engine No. 19 currently shares a station on Ashley Hall Plantation Road with Engine No. 16, which also lost three firefighters in the blaze, including one temporarily assigned to another station.
The Ashley Hall Plantation Road station, about 2 1/2 miles from the one under construction, will keep Engine No. 16.
The city hasn't discussed what changes to make in the building's original design, city spokeswoman Barbara Vaughn said last week. They aren't sure when it will open.
"We anticipate completion by early September," Vaughn said. "We'll set a date when we know more."
Fire Chief Rusty Thomas said last month that Assistant Chief Larry Garvin and the chief's secretary, Pam Blevins, were shopping at Sofa Super Store a week before the fatal blaze to outfit the new station.
They spent about an hour in the store. They had quotes from the saleswoman and photos of the furniture that they planned to present to the city's design review board for approval. Then, the fire happened.
The new 7,500-square-foot station is built of brick and corrugated metal siding with a standing seam metal roof. It will have two fire-truck bays, with space for another truck when necessary. It includes space for a police department substation.
Coe, the architect, knew Baity, one of the firefighters from Engine No. 19. Their wives have been friends for years.
"I talked with Brad when were awarded the contract to do the station and we were excited about that," he said.
"We lost over a hundred years of service to the city of Charleston Fire Department, over a hundred years of dedicated service," Riley said. "To the families who gave them to us, we protected them as much as we could. They did exactly what they were trained to do. I can't say enough of these nine guys. They were my friends. I lost nine of my best friends."
Witnesses said more than 20 fire personnel were buried in the collapse, and flying ash hit bystanders, according to AP.
"It was like a 30-foot tornado of flames," Mark Hilton, who was struck in the eye, told The Associated Press.
Near Charleston's main firehouse, people left notes and flowers at the base of a monument to the firefighters Tuesday, according to AP.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you and your families," said one note the AP cited. "We are deeply saddened and want you all to know that we value your bravery and thank you for putting your lives on the line to keep us all safe. God bless you all."
In Washington, President Bush and first lady Laura Bush described the firefighters as "true heroes who demonstrated great skill and courage."
State and federal officials are investigating the cause of the fire, but Riley said there is no initial indication of foul play or arson.
Firefighters and other rescue workers formed a double line and saluted as their comrades' bodies were carried from the charred remains of the building. (Watch colleagues' solemn salutes as the fallen firefighters' bodies are brought out)
"To lose nine is just a tragedy of immense proportions," Riley said. "To lose nine is just unbelievable."
The deaths are the single greatest loss of American firefighters in the line of duty since the September 11, 2001, attacks, according to statistics compiled by firehouse.com. The attack on New York's World Trade Center resulted in the deaths of 343 firefighters.
The mayor said he didn't know whether the structure had sprinklers, but he said they would not have helped much. "A fire that gets going quickly enough is beyond any sprinkler system's capacity to put it out in a building like this," Riley said.
Store owner Herb Goldstein told the AP in a statement that everyone at the business is "devastated and heartbroken by this tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the heroic firefighters who lost their lives."
It is the first time Charleston has lost a firefighter in the line of duty in at least 10 years, Charleston firefighter Lt. Chad Watson said.
Most of the bodies were found in the rear of the building, Watson said, where flames caused the collapse of large shelves that held heavy furniture.
"The fire burned so hot so fast that those [shelves] all collapsed, and that's where the majority of the fatalities" occurred, Watson said.
Eric Glover, a Charleston firefighter who worked the blaze, said the loss of his colleagues was difficult to bear.
Glover and other firefighters were participating in a golf tournament to benefit the family of another colleague who recently had died when they were alert!ed about Monday's blaze. The building's roof had collapsed by the time Glover arrived.
"You're always close to the guys because you spend a third of your life with these guys," Glover said. "Then you spend time outside of the job with them. You're pretty close."
Daniel Shahid, who works at a nearby car dealership, told AP that dealership employees helped carry hoses and direct traffic. He said the fire quickly spread throughout the building, which collapsed less than 30 minutes after the blaze began.
"It collapsed so fast that there was no opportunity for anybody that was in there to even think about getting out," Shahid told CNN's "American Morning."
He told AP he saw firefighters rescue four people from the building.
"They were struggling. They were covered in black soot. They looked scared out of their minds," he told AP.
The collapse "came from nowhere," Shahid told CNN. "It was a standing structure, and five seconds later it was on the ground."
Donna French, right, the widow of Charleston firefighter, Michael French, and French's daughter, Kyla French, are comforted as they watch Michael's casket be loaded onto a fire engine outside of the Berkeley High School Gym, in Moncks Corner, S.C., Sunday, June 24, 2007. French, was killed battling a blaze at the Sofa Super Store, in Charleston, S.C., Monday, June 18, 2007. (AP Photo/Brett Flashnick)/2007-06-25 06:16:50/
24일 사우스캐롤라이나 몬크스코너 버클리고등학교체육관 밖 (찰스턴소방서 순직)소방관 마이클 프렌치 장례식장의 미망인 도나 프렌치와 딸 카일러 프렌치가 (동료소방관의) 경례를 받고있다