[1]CHARLESTON, S.C. (BP)–The city of Charleston, S.C., continues to mourn after nine firefighters were killed June 18 in a furniture store blaze, marking the nation’s worst loss of firefighters since Sept. 11, 2001.
After the firefighters’ names were released June 19, Edgar Boles, director of missions for the Charleston Baptist Association, began e-mailing the association’s churches asking if any of the victims had Baptist connections. Boles said June 20 he is planning to release news about such ties to Baptist churches June 21.
President Bush acknowledged the “devastating loss of some of America’s bravest … who selflessly gave their own lives to protect their community.”
“These firefighters were true heroes who demonstrated great skill and courage,” Bush said in a statement June 19. “Their unwavering commitment to their neighbors and to the city of Charleston is an inspiration to all Americans.”
The fire started about 7 p.m. Monday in a trash bin outside the Sofa Super Store on Savannah Highway. As firefighters tried to extinguish the flames, the fire spread to a porch and blew open the back door to the showroom, according to the local newspaper.
“Once inside, the fire rapidly ignited sofa and chair material near the back door,” The Post and Courier reported. “A rolling ball of fire and gas raced toward the front of the building, the combustible furniture fueling its momentum. Flames and smoke belched into the humid Lowcountry night, creating what one witness described as 30-foot tornado of flames. Hot ash pelted hundreds of onlookers.”
[2]Four employees were in the store when the fire started, the newspaper said, and two firefighters freed one worker who was trapped in a repair workshop in part of the building after the others escaped. The firemen who died had entered the showroom in pairs but quickly became trapped before the steel roof collapsed.
“They tried everything they could to find a door to open, find a window, find some way to get to downed firefighters,” Pete Rogers of the Charleston County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad told The Post and Courier, referring to surviving fire crews. “They never stopped trying.”
As the flag-draped bodies were removed from the rubble, firefighters and police formed two lines and saluted, the newspaper said, and a local chaplain prayed over the victims. The fire marked the first time Charleston had lost a firefighter in the line of duty since 1965.
“Nine brave, heroic, courageous firefighters of the city of Charleston have perished in fighting fire in a most courageous and fearless manner, carrying out their duties,” Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said. “These people will never be forgotten.”
Fire Chief Rusty Thomas struggled to hold back tears as he told reporters he had just lost nine of his best friends who “did exactly what they were trained to do.”
The victims ranged in age from 27 to 56, and they had a combined 131 years of experience with the Charleston Fire Department. One had put in enough time to retire, another worked off-duty at a barber shop, one was a part-time house painter and another helped coach football and basketball at a local high school, the Associated Press noted.
State officials ordered flags lowered to half-staff, and a large American flag was draped over a sign near the front of the store. A makeshift memorial was growing onsite as people left flowers, balloons and signs, and a group of firefighters planted nine white crosses in the ground, The Post and Courier reported.
The cause of the fire was under investigation, though arson was not suspected. The building did not have fire sprinklers because it was not required to have them. The fire chief said sprinklers might have slowed the fire but not stopped it.
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Compiled by Erin Roach.