In 2009, a fire broke out at the cold-storage and warehouse building and killed six fire fighters. The firefighters died after they lost their way in the warehouse. They were searching for two homeless people who had allegedly started the fire and exited the building. After a police officer on patrol noticed smoke coming from the building, he contacted Central Dispatch for help.
The police officer reported that smoke was visible on the top of the building indicting that part of the building was on fire. The fire raged for more than an hour before the first alarm was sounded. Among the rescue team were 73 fire fighters who responded after disappearance of six fire fighters in the first rescue team.
The fire fighters who died were responding to the first alarm call. During the search mission, two firefighters lost way in the warehouse and died. Even though one of them raised alarm, there was no time to save him. After thorough investigation, the missing fire fighters were identified.
The office of the District Attorney attributed the death of the firefighters to complications that resulted from effects of the fire. Two of them died of severe burns, inhalation of toxic gases, and exposure to heat. The other four died due to inhalation of smoke, hot gases, and soot. Rescue operations were ineffective because they succumbed to the effects of the fire before being rescued.
After the incident, several recommendations were proposed to improve firefighters’ safety. Inspection of vacant houses should be conducted to enable firefighters familiarize with their construction plans and designs. In addition, establishing a plan that includes possible obstacles is also important. Inspection of buildings will enable easy navigation by firefighters during a fire.
Two of the six fire fighters died because they lost their way in the building. The fire department should always be prepared for fires by ensuring that their fire equipment is functional and in good condition. There should be a different command protocol followed. For example, the Incident Commander should have a partner so that during emergencies such as fires, an automatic response can help save lives. The fire department equipment should be upgrade.
This will involve ensuring that their equipment is fully functional and adequate. Failure to save the six who did resulted from inadequacies in their firefighting equipment. The incident commander should be more responsible. This will involve knowing all personnel offering help in a rescue mission. In case of a fire situation, he can easily identify missing individuals and start a search.
A Rapid Intervention Team should be established and be ready whenever there is an emergency. In most cases, fire-fighting companies are usually busy and may not be able to respond to an alarm call when an emergency occurs. To avoid losses because of unavailability, a Rapid Intervention Team should be established. It will be responsible for making first rescue attempts before other rescuers respond with more advanced equipment. Finally, implementation of a health and safety program is necessary.
For example, NFPA has provisions that allow adoption of such programs by fire departments. The main goal of the program is to deal with fatalities, illnesses, and other physical and psychological complications that result from such incidents. Many people are affected by such incidents including families of fire fighters. The program also offers social and emotional support to the families to help them deal with losses.