By Sharif Durhams and Clay Barbour
The Charlotte Observer
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SALISBURY, N.C. — Rusty Alexander can’t remember exactly when the mayday call came, but he can remember the words of Salisbury fire Capt. Rick Barkley.
“Mayday, mayday, this is Quint Four,” Alexander recalls Barkley saying. “We’ve lost pressure and we have high heat.”
Alexander’s team from the Locke volunteer fire department was sent into Friday’s fire at the Salisbury Millwork to try to save three men. The team could rescue only one.
But one of the team members who thought to wedge a small trash can under a heavy bay door may have saved the life of Barkley and members of the team who went in to rescue him, Alexander said Saturday night.
Alexander, chief of the Locke fire department, was heading a crew of four firefighters who were called to the blaze about 20 minutes after the fire started around 7 a.m.
Alexander said he didn’t know the strategy behind having the Salisbury crew in the building. But firefighters believed the blaze was contained in the main offices of the millwork building and had not spread to a large loading dock area, Alexander said. Alexander said he believes the Salisbury crew was in the building to keep the fire from spreading to the loading dock.
Alexander said crew members of his team, Hall and Bradley McKnight squeezed under the door. Alexander said he followed. He stayed by the door trying to raise it, he said, because he was concerned it would come crashing down.
“When we entered that door, the whole warehouse area above our heads was on fire from one side to the other,” Alexander said.
It was so hot, Salisbury Fire Chief Robert Parnell told Alexander to get his crew out of the building, Alexander said. About that time, Hall and McKnight found Barkley, Alexander said.
“They hauled him out and slid him under the door and exited the building,” Alexander said.
Alexander said he got wedged under the door. Bill Kluttz, a captain with Locke’s fire department, and Parnell pulled him out, he said.
A second crew then entered with a fire hose to try to rescue Isler and Monroe, but the fire was overrunning the hose line.
A third crew went in, but had to leave because of the high heat.
A fourth team then entered. They heard an alarm that gets triggered when a firefighter does not move for at least 30 seconds. The alarm led the crew to Isler, who was pulled from the fire.
In all, 20 minutes passed from the time Barkley was pulled out of the fire to the time a crew found Isler, Alexander said. Alexander said he learned as he was being taken to the hospital that Monroe had been found. That was about an hour after the initial call, Alexander said.
His four-person crew was assigned to break down doors and windows for other firefighters to enter, he said. And if a fire crew inside the building called for help, his team was assigned to go in and rescue them.
Alexander’s crew broke down three doors and a window to allow Salisbury fire crews to enter, Alexander said. As the crews entered one of the large bay doors, Capt. James Hall wedged a 2-foot-tall trash can under the door.
Alexander said he can’t remember exactly when the mayday call came, but he said he could remember Barkley saying they had lost water pressure.
Also in the building were firefighters Justin Monroe, 19, and Victor Isler, 40.
 Photos courtesy of Salisbury FD Justin Monroe and Victor Isler. |
Alexander, Hall and McKnight suffered injuries in their rescue effort and all three were debriefed by fire investigators Saturday.
Earlier Saturday, colleagues of Monroe and Isler gathered at the city firehouse to remember them. Not far from the station, smoke still rose from the husk of the main building. State and federal investigators crawled through the building’s remains to try to understand what happened.
Isler worked for years as an emergency medical technician in New York and was among the first to help at ground zero.
But it wasn’t until the 40-year-old moved to North Carolina that he fulfilled his dream of being a full-time firefighter.
Chris Haynes, a captain at the Faith Volunteer Fire Department and Salisbury firefighter, said Isler treated the younger men like family.
“He took care of us. He was like a father to us,” Haynes said.
Greg Shue, the former chief of Millers Ferry Volunteer Fire Department, remembered Monroe as a dedicated firefighter and a relentless jokester.
“He was very happy. You could tell it in his eyes,” Shue said. “He would always make our fire department a better place to go, a better place to be.”
Arson investigation vehicles from the State Bureau of Investigation and a large mobile unit from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were parked at the scene Saturday.
City officials did not release additional details about previous fire inspections of the facility Saturday.
Salisbury fire Chief Parnell did not answer when asked about the circumstances surrounding the firefighters’ deaths. Parnell released a statement that said the department was focused “on family and facts.”
The statement said the Fire Department was turning over all pertinent records to investigating agencies, and that doing so was standard procedure in such cases. The statement said that information would be made public at an appropriate time.
ATF spokesman Earl Woodham said arson investigators are commonly called upon to determine the cause and origin of fires.