Nine Firefighters Killed in Blaze, Praised As Heroes

Jun 20, 07:29 AM

Current Headlines: By BRUCE SMITH

By Bruce Smith

The Associated Press

CHARLESTON, S.C.

More than a dozen firefighters who rushed into the burning furniture superstore knew - or thought they knew - two things: Employees were trapped inside and the blaze was small enough to control.

But within moments, flames swept across the warehouse, blowing out windows and eventually collapsing the roof in a twisted mass of brown steel. Nine men were killed in the nation's biggest loss of firefighters since Sept. 11, 2001 .

"I lost nine of my best friends," said Fire Chief Rusty Thomas, choking back tears Tuesday. "To the families, you gave them to us, and we protected them as best as we could."

The cause of the fire Monday night at the Sofa Super Store, and exactly how the men were killed, was under investigation, but officials said arson was not suspected.

One fire captain said the men might have fallen victim to a flashover, in which super hot gases heat a building and its contents so intensely that they literally burst into flames.

Buildings that contain a lot of furniture are especially vulnerable, because of the wood lacquer, polyurethane foam and other combustible materials that can reach flashover at a relatively low temperature - sometimes within minutes of a fire's outset.

Other officials, however, said the roof collapse might have killed the firefighters.

The fire chief said there was no indication his firefighters did anything wrong.

Through the night, firefighters, police officers and other rescue workers saluted as the firefighters' bodies were carried from the smoldering ruins, with the last victim removed around daybreak.

Some firefighters wept. Some fell to their knees, others held their heads in their hands, or sat slumped on the bumpers of their fire trucks, their faces etched with grief and exhaustion.

Later in the day, as mourners left flowers outside fire stations and state officials ordered flags lowered, firefighters draped an American flag over a sign near the front of the store.

Officials said the fire started in a storage area of the Sofa Super Store, a huge showroom and warehouse . The first emergency calls came in about 7 p.m. Monday, and firefighters were told two employees were trapped.

Later Tuesday, however, the fire chief said only one employee was believed trapped. The employee made it out alive, Thomas said.

The nine firefighters ranged in age from 27 to 56, with anywhere from 18 months to 32 years on the job. Officials said their bodies were found in various places around the gutted building.

Officials said Tuesday that the store had no sprinklers. At 31,300 square feet, the store was well above a new state threshold mandating sprinklers for commercial buildings bigger than 12,000 square feet.

But because it was an older building, the furniture store was apparently exempt from stricter building codes dating to the early 1990s that were strengthened again in both Carolinas early this decade.

It was the nation's biggest loss of firefighters since the Sept. 11 attacks, which killed 340 firefighters.

"These firefighters were true heroes who demonstrated great skill and courage," President Bush said in a statement. "Their unwavering commitment to their neighbors and to the city of Charleston is an inspiration to all Americans ."

Officials identified the victims as Capt. William "Billy" Hutchinson, 48; Capt. Mike Benke, 49; Capt. Louis Mulkey, 34; Mark Kelsey, 40; Bradford "Brad" Baity, 37; Michael French, 27; James "Earl" Drayton, 56; Brandon Thompson, 27; and Melvin Champaign, 46.

McClatchy News Service contributed to this report.

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