Fire study expected in next few months

A long-awaited federal study of the deadly Sofa Super Store fire in 2007 is expected to be completed within the next few months, officials said Tuesday.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has been working with the aid of a computer model to reconstruct the blaze that killed nine Charleston firefighters on June 18, 2007, at a sprawling West Ashley furniture outlet.

The NIST wants to determine why the fire spread so rapidly, why the building quickly collapsed and whether sprinklers could have saved lives.

The study has been delayed several times, and it remains the last major examination of the blaze to be completed.

Solicitor Scarlett Wilson has been waiting on the study since late 2008 to determine whether criminal charges are warranted in the case.

She already has the results of an 18-month investigation by Charleston police, but she didn't want to make a final ruling until all the facts are in.

NIST spokesman Michael Newman said no date has been set for the study's release, but agency personnel are working as quickly as possible to get it done.

"Due to the complexity of the modeling required and the small number of available staff members qualified to conduct this research, the study has taken longer than we had hoped," he said. "Major progress, however, had been made, and we plan to issue the report within the next few months."

The agency has previously studied such catastrophes as the 2001 collapse of the World Trade Center towers and the 2003 fire at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island that killed 100 people during a concert by Great White.