The Associated Press
CHARLESTON, S.C. — The city’s fire chief initially blocked federal investigators from talking to firefighters about the blaze that killed nine of his men last month, a spokesman for a workplace safety agency said Thursday.
Fred Blosser, public affairs officer for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, said fire Chief Rusty Thomas on Monday refused investigators’ access to firefighters, but then relented on Thursday.
The institute, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is researching how the June 18 fire at the Sofa Super Store was handled. It was the worst single loss of firefighters’ lives in the nation since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
“The important thing right now is we were granted the access and we appreciate the city and the chief helping us with the investigation now and we look forward to working with them and doing what we need to do,” Blosser said.
Thomas and city officials did not immediately return calls to The Associated Press.
Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. told MSNBC.com in an article posted Thursday evening that the delay probably was the result of a miscommunication and that the chief simply wanted his grieving men focused on their jobs.
Blosser said Thomas did not indicate why the interviews were blocked.