Nine Firefighters Perish in Warehouse Blaze

Jun 19, 10:00 PM

Current Headlines: CHARLESTON, S.C. _ The close-knit firehouses of Charleston lost a meticulous leader, a coach to young athletes and a few light-hearted pranksters among nine firefighters who perished in the deadliest day for the profession in the U.S. since the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I lost nine of my best friends," said Charleston 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."

Mayor Joseph Riley said the dead firefighters, who had more than 130 years of experience with the Charleston Fire Department, gave "the last full measure of devotion" to the community.

The cause of Monday night's blaze at a one-story furniture warehouse was still under investigation, although officials said earlier they did not believe arson was involved. The building had no sprinkler system. Furniture stacked on shelves provided the kindling, and the roof collapsed within 30 minutes of the firefighters' arrival.

Carol Harken of Charleston, a customer service representative for a cable company, watched the fire from across the street. "It was an inferno. That fire went so fast those guys didn't have a chance," Harken said. "It looked like the building melted."

Tuesday was a day of shock and mourning, particularly among firefighters who typically work and live together during 24-hour shifts.

Firefighter Bryan Bolick, 28, had swapped shifts with Brandon Thompson, one of those who perished, so that he could play in a charity golf tournament Monday.

"He was a go-getter, a very aggressive fireman. He was like a brother to me," Bolick said, sitting on the stoop of a loan company early Tuesday evening across from the site of the fire.

Three of the dead firefighters worked in Bolick's firehouse.

"This is devastating for us as a family," Bolick added. "Half of that station is going to be empty."

Regarding Capt. Billy Hutchinson, Bolick said, "He was the funniest guy alive." Bolick said Hutchinson's jokes ran the gamut, noting, "He could have an around-kids sense of humor, or he could have what we call a firehouse sense of humor."

And of Capt. Louis Mulke, he recalled Mulke helped coach football at Summerville High School. "A lot of people would follow him anywhere. Leadership, everybody had a lot of confidence in that guy.

"Louis Mulke definitely went the extra mile with a lot of things. Everything he did, he made sure he did it right. Every job we did, he'd stay there the longest, he would make sure everything got done," Bolick said.

Mayor Riley spoke for many here and across the country when he told a morning news conference: "Nine brave, heroic, courageous firefighters of the city of Charleston have perished fighting fire in a most courageous and fearless manner, carrying on their duties." He added, "To all of their loved ones, our heart goes out to them."

The store lay in charred ruins on Tuesday. Much of the building's facade had peeled away. Scorched metal and cinder blocks were exposed on a collapsed section of the front wall. The roof had collapsed behind it. An uneven, jagged row of corrugated metal stood in the rear of the store, which was located along a busy highway.

On a grass strip in front of the parking lot, nine crosses stood, each fashioned from white metal pipe and with an American flag planted beside it. Passers-by left flowers, balloons, and more flags behind them. It was the worst loss of live on a single day for American firefighters since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

And questions mounted as to what went wrong inside the Sofa Super Store and warehouse.

Chief Thomas told reporters that he "would not comment on the sequence of events." Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten said they did not want to "mis-serve their (firefighters') families by jumping to conclusions."

At least 16 firefighters were in the warehouse during the 30 minutes before the roof collapsed and killed nine of them. Several survivors were seen crawling out of windows to safety, witnesses said.

Investigators will likely examine the structure of the building to determine the strength of the roof supports and how long those supports could have withstood the extreme heat from a fire before giving way.

Atlanta Fire Chief Harold Miller said in an interview on CNN that the kindling-like nature of furniture stacked on shelves created the potential of a "tremendous amount of heat." A steel truss roof _ one that is not supported by pillars mounted into the floor of the building _ would be more vulnerable to an early collapse, Miller said.

"I don't know that that one had a steel truss roof, but it appeared that it possibly could have, then early collapse is a very distinct possibility," Miller said.

Larry Langford, director of media affairs for the Chicago Fire Department, said he would not second-guess how the Charleston department handled the fire. Langford said, though, that roof design is a critically important factor in determining how Chicago firefighters battle blazes.

"If it is a truss roof, then you make an entry early, but if it's any kind of a fire, they'll get out fast," Langford said. "You don't have much time."

"A building with large open expanses leads to a situation where the roof will fail," he said.

Thomas said his firefighters were prepared to deal with the fire at the furniture warehouse. "They were doing what they were trained to do," Thomas said.

___

FALLEN FIREFIGHTERS

The Charleston County Coroner's office released the ranks, names, ages and years of service of the nine men killed:

_Capt. William "Billy" Hutchinson, 48, 30 years of service.

_Capt. Mike Benke, 49, 29 years.

_Capt. Louis Mulkey, 34, 11 { years.

_Engineer Mark Kelsey, 40, 12 { years.

_Engineer Bradford "Brad" Baity, 37, 9 years.

_Assistant Engineer Michael French, 27, 18 months.

_Firefighter James "Earl" Drayton, 56, 32 years.

_Firefighter Brandon Thompson, 27, 4 years.

_Firefighter Melvin Champaign, 46, 2 years.

___

(Dorning reported from Charleston; Jones reported from Chicago.)

___

(c) 2007, Chicago Tribune.

Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

_____

PHOTOS (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): SCFIRE

GRAPHICS (from MCT Graphics, 202-383-6064): SCFIRE

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. 1045470