By Cathy Dyson
The Free Lance-Star
KING GEORGE, Va. — While a five-alarm fire blazed in King George County in September, some firefighters danced around and played on a rescue stretcher, gave each other high-fives and rode a pink scooter across the lawn, according to King George Fire and Rescue officials.
“The conduct was atrocious,” said Floyd Allen, the department’s safety officer.
The behavior of the firefighters is one of many problems cited at a town hall meeting last night to discuss the incident.
King George fire officials say they believe the firefighters acting irresponsibly had responded from Maryland. No Maryland firefighters attended the meeting.
Residents raised concerns about why King George has to rely on units from Charles County, Md. They also wondered why King George doesn’t have enough paid and volunteer workers to get trucks out to the scene, and why that incident was so poorly managed.
Fire and Rescue Chief David Moody told more than a dozen people in the audience he had the same concerns they did. He spoke openly—and critically—of the actions of the Maryland firefighters and admitted his own personnel didn’t follow protocol.
“King George folks are at fault, too, absolutely,” said Moody, who wasn’t on the call but has interviewed firefighters and residents. “Most of the people I talked to said it just looked like nobody was in control.”
For 2 hours, Moody and three men who responded to the fire described a situation that sounded eerily similar to what happened in Spotsylvania County in February. That’s when Sandy Hill, 43, died in her bedroom as firefighters searched her home in vain.
In the King George fire, Patrick and Angel Durham survived, along with their two children. But their colonial home in Monmouth Village near Dahlgren was destroyed. The family also lost a cat, dog, ferret and seven snakes.
During the meeting, Moody showed a video recorded by the dashboard camera of Deputy Timothy Lyons, who was on patrol when he saw smoke and headed to the Durham home.
The dancing and playing around weren’t obvious on his video, although there was a quick glimpse of someone riding a scooter. But the deputy’s video did give a harrowing account of how quickly the home went up in flames.
At one point, Alaina Durham, 8, hugged her 3-year-old brother, Sean, who wore nothing but his underwear.
Then as the fire raged, Alaina covered her face with her hands and cried. At that point, many in the audience did the same, including her grandparents.
Racquel Harbaugh, a neighbor of the Durhams, watched the fire that night. She was so shocked by a number of things that happened that she demanded answers.
She wondered why a fire truck from the Navy base in Dahlgren got to her neighborhood before a King George unit did.
“That bothered me greatly,” she said. “I don’t live in Dahlgren; I live in King George; I pay taxes to King George.”
The Navy base has a mutual-aid agreement with King George, along with departments over the Nice Bridge in Maryland and those in Westmoreland and Stafford counties.
Units from Charles County, Md., arrived at the Durhams’ home at the same time as the first King George truck.
Throughout the video, Moody and others pointed to actions on the screen that went against typical operations.
Fire trucks arriving at the scene ran over hose laid out on the street and cut off the water supply.
No one set up a perimeter. Patrick Durham had 600 to 800 rounds of ammunition in the house—which popped loudly and often during the fire—yet neighbors wandered on and off the property.
Firefighters walked in and out of the inferno, moments before portions of the house collapsed.
No one took command of the incident until 17 minutes after the first unit arrived, and even then, no one seemed to be in charge.
Volunteer Aaron Schroeder, who was at the scene that night, said, “We had firefighters from different areas, and everybody screwed up. Nobody listened to anybody.”
Moody and Allen, the safety officer, are continuing to investigate the incident. Moody also is meeting with officials at Dahlgren and Charles County to go over procedures.
Harbaugh asked if Moody’s final report can be shared with the public. Supervisor John Mullen, who attended the meeting with Supervisor John LoBuglio, said it would be presented at a Board of Supervisors meeting.
Moody assured them he wanted the county to learn from the experience.
“We’re not here to sweep this stuff under the rug,” he said. “We’re here to identify the concerns and make some changes.”
Republished with permission from The Free Lance-Star.