Riley will release fire report Thursday, May 15

KidYendor (anonymous) says...

Joe, the people and firefighters of Charleston demand that this report be released immediately with no delay. So do it.

May 6, 2008 at 11:36 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

frenchsmom (anonymous) says...

As the mother of one of the fallen 9 I am willing to wait if it means getting a more accurate report. This has become more of a political debate than learning process. It's NOT all about what the CFD did wrong but what caused the fire in the first, how did a simple dumster fire turn into an inferno> Was there chemicals in that dumpster that caused an explosion? Everyone has become so focused on getting back at people they've had beefs with in the pass that they don't care if the store owner was in violation of so many codes I can't count them, that fact is never mentioned. How would better training by CFD or updated equipment have saved the fireman who was TRAPPED in a back room with fire on one side and the only other exit chained and padlocked. How was that CFDs fault? I wanted the report the day after the fire but I want a report that is factual, that reveals the answers to every detail including how the fire started not citing the cause of the fire is not exceptable to me. I have waited 10.5 mos I can wait a few more for the truth. The public needs to consider what Most of the families want not just the ones who are disgruntled and have past personal issues with CFD.

May 6, 2008 at 11:57 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

summerville_guy (anonymous) says...

Well if anyone is in any position to be demanding anything, it is frenchsmom. She deserves to know more than any of us what happened, and she has very valid points about being patient. Frenchsmom, I am sorry for your loss. I hope this report can create a sense of closure for you and your family.

May 6, 2008 at 12:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

firefightersforthetruth (anonymous) says...

TRUTH IS AT HAND! Be prepared for the real story. Open you mind and read it. Facts and truths can not be changed. My hope is that no matter which side you stand on this report will educate us all as to the reason 9 good men died.

Mrs. French, I am sorry for you loss. I only hope you are prepared for what you will hear. The truth some times is as painful as our loss. We need to start the healing now. The well being of every living firefighter in the CFD is at stake here. We can not change what happened on June 18, we can only hope that the facts at hand will keep this from ever happening again. The future is where we can change, not the past. If the owner were at fault, I hope they are exposed. We as firefighters believe there was other factors at hand that could have made a difference in the out come.

So let us look forward and start to heal. The road is still a long one. We will all still have times of uncertainty, but let us help each other and move forward.

May 6, 2008 at 12:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

eyeinthesky (anonymous) says...

Give it to Ray Nash and it would be released on the Internet in 10 minutes!

May 6, 2008 at 12:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

frenchsmom (anonymous) says...

I wish I could say I am prepared for what the report will say but the thought sickens me while at the same time I need every answer I can get. I do have questions about the actions of certain CFD commanders, I have kept these opinions to myself waiting on the report. But I want the whole report. I know something went horribly wrong, I know how it ended, I just want to know how it started and got so out of hand. My concern is that nobody wants to even look at the violations found in that store even though one of the fallen had commented on different occasions that it was a death trap if they ever had to go in.

May 6, 2008 at 1:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

sbs920 (anonymous) says...

Isn't it amazing how just hours before the council meeting and the threat of a large opposing audience that little joe does his best "backstroke". He's a real politician that litte Joe is. . . I'm sure after much debate and consulting this great idea was hatched. Release the report for all to read and base their own decision.
Chief Rusty, better get your resume' ready pal. . .
Little Joe is gonna leave you high and dry on this one. ..

May 6, 2008 at 4:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

majorjohnson (anonymous) says...

I think all of you should have started healing after the fire. I'm pretty fed up with the political football and power grab and money grab this has become. I trust the union as far as I can spit Joe Riley and I trust him as far as I can spit an anvil. The families of the firefighters not only got the compensation the system had for them, they got donations and scholarships and health insurance and who knows what and still want to file lawsuits and fight over who gets what. Joe is ducking the political fallout. This has turned from just a bad event that ended up in firefighters deaths into a morass of greed and retribution and advantage and politics. If there are lessons to be learned fine, but this isn't about learning lessons, it's about taking advantage of the deaths to fulfill agendas that have nothing to do with the deaths. The worst part of it all is that you can't tell the people who have no agenda but fixing any problems so it won't happen again from the schmucks who are just using these mens deaths for their own purpose.

I've been sick of it for quite some time, and most of my friends have become disgusted with it too, and some of them are in the fire service. It's become a sickening display of selfish causes.

May 6, 2008 at 5:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

bravecharleston9myspace (anonymous) says...

(french's mom) GOD BLESS YOU SWEETY FOR COMING OUT AND SHARING YOUR FEELINGS!!! BIG HUGZ!!!!! I LUV YA HON!

YOU KNOW I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU ON THIS ISSUE...I PRAY THEY DO SHOW SOME FINAL ANSWERS AND SOME JUSTICE FOR OUR 9 FF'S WHO FOUGHT HARD TO FIND A WAY OUT....BUT COULDN'T BECAUSE OF CHAINED DOORS AND FAULTY DOORS! I PRAY JUSTICE COMES FOR THEM BECAUSE THEY DID NOT RECEIVE HELP FROM SPRINKLERS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE.....

I HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT THE REST....WE ALL SHALL SEE...

EVERYONE ELSE...PLEASE PRAY FOR THE FALLEN NINES' FAMILIES DURING THIS....THEY NEED IT! ESPECIALLY WITH THE ONE YEAR DATE COMING UP SO FAST !!!

LET'S ALL BOND TOGETHER AGAIN....LIKE WE HAD TO A YEAR AGO.

never forgetting together,
missy :O(.........

May 6, 2008 at 5:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

UrGatorbait (anonymous) says...

Nice post majorjohnson

May 6, 2008 at 6:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

heartwesterly (anonymous) says...

The Mayor made it a political game first in the days after the fire when he did not put the chief on administrative leave. In this very decision, he lost all illusion of impartiality and did a diservice to the Chief,the firefighters and the fallen.

The speed with which he was able to put together the panel of "experts" (the criteria that was used to pick them was never made public)is in stark contrast with the length of time it took to make any noticable change to the CFD. 8 months for uniforms, 10 months for 5 in hose? Especially, when distributors where chomping at the bit to help.

Add to this, the indecisiveness, and that shows that Mayor Riley did NOT consider all sides of an issue before he made a decision, or he wouldn't have made the first statement, retract it, then make it again when the tide of public opinion changed. That tells me its just all a game to him.

There is more at stake here than money and political careers. Long gone are the days, when firefighters blindly went into the blaze and hoped for the best. There exists training,and equipment (and has existed for many years) that would keep this sort of tragedy from ever having happening. So why weren't they inplace in Charleston? Accountablity, that is what people are waiting for. I read previously, that the panel collaborated with the feds....so what does the Mayor really fear?

The emotions are still raw for all those still a part of the CFD and for their families as well as the families of the fallen (more are directly affected than you might think. And this tragedy is a wound that hasn't been allowed to close because it seems there is always one more thing to get past....this report being the toughest. So yes, it needs to be sooner rather then later. If for nothing else, than to have the truth out there, so everyone can heal and move on.

May 6, 2008 at 7:51 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

CedarPosts (anonymous) says...

I think most everyone wants to place blame on someone, the mayor, the city, the CFD.

But the truth is, each one of these men did what they do, charge into a burning building because there "might" be someone or "maybe" more traped inside.

They know the risks, and they know their job is dangerous, but it doesn't matter because to these brave men once you get a taste of fire it's hard to stop, you live for the heat, the sound and confusion and it's all part of what brings them back to the fire.

It's what makes them stay just a little too long, check one more room, push inside just a little deeper, because there "might" be someone inside.

Because saving a life is always worth the risk. While the rest of us stand helpless far from the choking smoke and heat these men push through, challenge the fire and sometimes they die.

But they died "doing" what they do.

Were there command errors, yes.

Lack of communication? Yes.

Lack of police traffic control which disrupted water flow? Yes.

Would a sprinker system of helped? Yes.

Are steel truss roof systems dangerous and prone to failure? Yes.

Were there too many teams in the building? Yes.

And list can go on.

But the truth is these men died doing what they do.

more at:

www.cedarposts.blogspot.com

May 6, 2008 at 8:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

majorjohnson (anonymous) says...

Yeah raregar67, you're right that some have no hidden agenda. They just get lost in the crowd of those who do, and I think that's a shame. While they get lost in the crowd of people who do have agendas, the real need that should be addressed here gets lost in the crowd, what needs to be looked at and corrected has become a means of gaining power, gaining money, extracting retribution, attacking political enemies. That's the real shame here, and that's what disgusts people like me who would like to see the problems that happened fixed.

You know, sometimes bad things just happen. Maybe it's preventable, maybe the prevention is worse that the cure. Maybe not allowing people to sell couches would have prevented this, maybe not allowing people to fight fires would have prevented it too. Maybe making firefighters work in asbestos air conditioned uniforms would have kept them alive and caused them cancer in 20 years. Sometimes you just have to accept that people die doing their best to fight a fire or enforce the law and be thankful that they were willing to do it for us. All I see coming out of this goat rope is money and power, and the people who just want to know if something might have prevented these deaths are lost in all the acrimony.

May 6, 2008 at 8:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

majorjohnson (anonymous) says...

If you have some proof that the fire was deliberately set you should give it to the authorities michaelsadvocate. If you have a tin foil helmet to protect you from the zeta rays that the greys are projecting from the planet Poopa you can ignore that suggestion.

Thomas1776 will likely be very interested in that theory though, so maybe you should get with him. I bet you'd make a great couple.

May 6, 2008 at 9:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

now_ready1 (anonymous) says...

Thanks Joe, we always knew you could be persuaded to do the honorable thing, with enough pressure.

May 6, 2008 at 9:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

majorjohnson (anonymous) says...

So you do have an aluminum foil hat. At least Thomas1776 finally has a date.

May 6, 2008 at 10:11 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

CedarPosts (anonymous) says...

The answer to MA is yes unless it happens to be a day that I'm riding in the right seat. Then it doesn't matter how the fire started.

The trouble is when you're inside an involved building looking for someone, it's easy to ignor the warning signs. You listen not to the fire, but for sounds of life.

You tend to tune out the raising heat, turn down the radio, to "hear" better, close a charged line because you think you heard someone.

Was an order given to evacuate the building? Did anyone have a time frame to collapse? Was it correct for the building?

There is no "hard" evidence as to a deliberately set fire, just a long chain of events that turned deadly in the end.

Given the nature of firemen and the steel truss roof system, lack of water flow, failure of command and communications it was bound to happen.

Read one person's account of the Sofa Super Store fire at http://cedarposts.blogspot.com/2008/0...

May 6, 2008 at 10:11 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

heartwesterly (anonymous) says...

"Sometimes you just have to accept that people die doing their best to fight a fire or enforce the law and be thankful that they were willing to do it for us."

This is the EXACTLY the attitude that the firefighters are fighting, majorjohnson! They die and no one wants to look into why. Everyone is willing to just accept that their deaths! They want to say, there is no way it could have been prevented, but they died a hero so that makes it all better.

Why do they not deserve just as much on the job safety as any other profession? If a construction worker died working on a high rise would you just say that's a apart of their job? Yeah it's a dangerous job. But wouldn't you think there would be an investigation into whether proper safety procedure and equipment were used? Don't you think the employer would be held accountable if they weren't? This is no different! Only difference is people can say they died heroes....but what comfort is that really?

Think about this, there were thermal imagers (a over simplified explaination is that they are like night vision goggles but for heat sources) on the scene yet not a single one was used. Can you imagine how that may have changed the outcome....how it could change future outcomes? How about the substandard gear? How about that the department didn't abide by NFPA standards? There are many more questions than you might think. Firefighting isn't just running into burning building and hoping you come out alive...it is as technologically advanced as any other profession with just as many complicated tactical procedures and safety protocols.

This is aboutthe truth and making sure nothing like this happens again. The truth will begin the healing process. These men deserve the truth and the sooner the better.

May 6, 2008 at 10:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

CountryGirl (anonymous) says...

Thomas1776.....are you on something?

May 6, 2008 at 11:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

JohnS (anonymous) says...

Taking a full page ad out. Wow that is big of you losers. The firemen are needed just like we need all the other services. You are their to serve the people at the will of the mayor the chief. I say fire all the trouble making firemen that follow this radical local group. This will leave a good group of folks after that.

May 6, 2008 at 11:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )