Biographical Info
Age: 33
Additional Info: Solomon served just over six years when this incident occured.
Cause of Death: After suffering third degree burns to his legs and torso on a house fire call, Solomon was transported to an Atlanta hospital. He died six days later.
Date of Incident: November 28, 2006
Atlanta fireman dies of injuries;
Chief vows charges if vagrants are found
By Mike Morris
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Copyright 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The vagrants were trespassers, and more than careless, they were callous, Atlanta’s fire chief said Wednesday, hours after an Atlanta firefighter died, the first in 20 years to lose his life in a blaze.
Chief Dennis Rubin said investigators think vagrants were using a candle or something else to keep warm in the vacant Vine City house on Thanksgiving night. They didn’t care enough to douse the flame that would grow into death for 33-year-old firefighter Steven Solomon.
“At first, we thought that the fire was accidentally set. We’re now learning that the fire had burned for a while, and the vagrants then intentionally left without making any contact, so there’s several situations relative to that --- from trespassing to maliciously setting the fire --- that we’re looking at,” Rubin said, vowing to push for charges against the vagrants if they are found.
Solomon died of cardiac arrest early Wednesday in the burn unit at Grady Memorial Hospital. The chief said a suspect being questioned Wednesday afternoon could eventually be charged.
“We’re outraged,” Rubin said.
The American flag flew at half-staff Wednesday at Fire Station 16 on Simpson Road, where Atlanta firefighters wore black tape on their badges in memory of Solomon, a seven-year fireman who joined the Atlanta department from Macon four months ago. He and his wife had four children, all under 13.
Rubin called Solomon “one of Atlanta’s and America’s heroes.”
He said firefighters were angry about Solomon’s death because it might have been avoided if the fire had been reported promptly.
Instead, the team from Station 16 responded to flames fed by kindling-dry lumber.
They learned the house was vacant and found no one inside. When the blaze suddenly flared up, the crews ordered a retreat. Outside, they did a head count and came up a man short.
Using an infrared camera that detects a body by the heat it generates, they located Solomon and carried him from the building.
His colleagues think he became disoriented or lost in the small, one-story building when vapors flared, probably sending temperatures above 1,000 degrees and producing superheated smoke that protective gear can withstand for only a few seconds.
Solomon had third-degree burns on his hands, face and chest when his colleagues pulled him from the house. He nearly died at least four times: on the way to the hospital, and at the hospital, where his heart stopped beating three times, according to Rubin.
An independent panel chaired by the director of the state Fire Academy will investigate Solomon’s death to determine what, if anything, can be done to prevent another such death, Rubin said.
“Every aspect will be reviewed to allow firefighter Solomon to not have died in vain,” the chief said.
“We’re going to learn the lesson as to what happened and why . . . and prevent, we hope, that from ever happening again.”
Solomon, who had been with the department since July, spent six years with the Macon-Bibb County Fire Department.
“Although Steven may have seemed like a rookie who had worked with us for four months, in reality he was a nearly seven-year veteran,” Rubin said.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete Wednesday but the service will be in Macon, Rubin said.
A fund has been set up through Wachovia Bank for Solomon’s wife, Kennetha, and their children. Capt. Byron Kennedy, the department spokesman, said contributions made at any Wachovia branch “will go straight to the family.”
Solomon was the second Atlanta firefighter to die in the line of duty this year.
Russell Schwantes, 39, died of a heart attack April 25 while on a nonfire call at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
In February 1986, Atlanta fire Capt. Jerry Prince was killed when a wall of a burning Milton Avenue warehouse collapsed and buried him under 2 feet of hot rubble.