By Glenn Smith and Ron Menchaca
The Post and Courier
Copyright 2007 The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
All Rights Reserved

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — The thousands of South Carolina firefighters coming in for their annual convention Wednesday needed no reminder about the inherent danger of their profession.

Their arrival at the South Carolina Fire-Rescue Conference came one month to the day after the Sofa Super Store fire that killed nine Charleston firefighters. As they stepped through the doors of the Myrtle Beach Convention Center on Wednesday, there was no getting away from that loss.

The faces of the fallen firefighters looked down on the crowd from a huge banner hanging outside the main exhibit hall. The nine faces also stared out from the cover of the conference program. Other memorials were featured on T-shirts, patches, badges and blankets.

James Bowie, executive director of the South Carolina State Firefighters' Association, said there was no denying that the June 18 fire weighed heavily on everyone in attendance. But organizers strove to strike a balance between honoring the fallen men and focusing on training and educating the 6,500 firefighters expected to attend the convention.

"You can't continue to dwell on it," Bowie said. "Our goal here is to make sure it never happens again."

The conference, which formally opens today, will feature a presentation on Friday by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani called "Leading the Healing." The following day, a memorial service will be held to commemorate state firefighters lost in the previous year. Charleston's nine firefighters will be honored at next year's ceremony.

But much of the conference is focused on training and seminars designed to improve firefighter safety.

Among the topics: effectively commanding a fire scene, protecting firefighters from collapsing buildings, managing air supply in a fire and rescuing trapped firefighters.

While the attendees were still arriving and registering, many of the firefighters were already hours into hands-on training courses.

At the Myrtle Beach Fire Department training school, firefighters from North Charleston, Pickens, Lancaster and other areas sweated in the midday heat as they learned techniques for rescuing downed comrades.

"We are taking the deaths of firefighters and making something good come of it," said instructor Robert Cobb, deputy chief of the Jersey City Fire Department.

North Charleston firefighter Blair McDowell sat soaking wet after the class, but he wasn't complaining. He said it's crucial for firefighters to train as realistically as possible.

"We can't get complacent," he said "It's important that we keep learning so hopefully something like that will not happen again."

The schedule was prepared long before the sofa store fire, but many of the topics hit painfully close to home for those familiar with the blaze. The Charleston firefighters were overcome by a rolling ball of fire inside the building just minutes before the roof collapsed.

"It's on everybody's minds," said Morris Russell, fire service director of Lancaster County and a vice president of the firefighters' association.

He went to Charleston after the fire and served as one of nine "escorts" assigned to help the families of the fallen with memorial arrangements and other tasks.

Russell was at the home of Capt. Mike Benke, trying to comfort a widow he didn't know and children struggling to accept the notion of life without their father.

"It was heartbreaking," he said. "And there was nothing I or anyone else could do to change that."

The week Russell spent with the family forged strong bonds, and he still speaks to them at least once a week. He said the pain of the loss is fresh and hard for many at the conference, but the focus has to remain on preventing similar tragedies in the future.