By Ron Menchaca and Glenn Smith
The Post and Courier
CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Charleston Fire Department has launched an internal investigation into apparent safety lapses after firefighters responding to a potentially toxic car fire failed to wear full protective gear, including new air tanks the city recently purchased for nearly $1 million.
While department leaders moved quickly Wednesday to find out why procedures were not followed, Tuesday’s incident has some questioning the department’s commitment to safety improvements recommended in the wake of the Sofa Super Store fire.
The failure of some firefighters to wear air packs and full protective gear at the sofa store blaze was among the concerns the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited in its investigation of the fire that killed nine firefighters.
The latest incident comes as national fire union leaders are in town to speak with city firefighters about the status of the department and the pace of change.
On Tuesday afternoon, a Post and Courier photographer snapped a shot of three firefighters dousing the car blaze atop the Doughty Street parking garage in downtown Charleston. The photo was posted on the newspaper’s Web site Charleston.net on Tuesday and soon was picked up by a local blogger who has been critical of the Fire Department’s progress since the June 18 sofa store blaze.
“That was brought to the chief (Wednesday) morning and they are investigating it,” said Mark Ruppel, department public information officer.
Chief Rusty Thomas and safety officer Bryan Kleskie will be involved in the probe, he said. “The big thing is breathing apparatus,” Ruppel said.
Many of the firefighters who responded to the car fire are not scheduled to return to work until Friday, so that will delay the investigation to a degree, Ruppel said.
Kleskie said the department policy is that firefighters must wear air packs at all fire-related emergencies. “I’m very concerned about it.”
He declined to name the individuals or station involved. A chief-level officer was acting as incident commander on the ground at the parking garage and would have been the highest-ranking commander in charge, Kleskie said.
Kleskie said he will conduct the investigation and submit a report to Thomas and the city’s human resources department, and it will be up to them to decide what, if any, disciplinary measures to take. “We are going to have a full investigation and will take care of the problem.”
Gordon Routley, who heads a panel of firefighting consultants recommending ways to improve the department, said Wednesday that the lack of full protective gear was “disappointing.” Smoke and soot from car fires can be toxic because the burning plastics, paint, fuel and other liquids spew dangerous chemicals and by-products into the air, he said.
Still, Routley said he doesn’t believe it reflects the department’s overall attitude toward change. “It concerns me when I see firefighters exposed to products of combustion. It doesn’t surprise me that within an organization of 250 people that some may not have gotten the message. Some guys get it the first day. Some guys, it takes a little longer.”
Routley said it will take time for firefighters, particularly the older ones, to unlearn old habits. “I think the Charleston Fire Department is going through that transition. It’s unrealistic to expect instant change.”
Following recommendations from Routley’s panel, the city has embarked in recent months on an ambitious top-to-bottom overhaul of the department’s tactics, training and equipment with eye toward improving safety.
The most-recent change came Wednesday with the hiring of a new chief training director for the Fire Department. Battalion Chief James T. Ghi of the Fairfax County (Va.) Fire and Rescue Department will take over a newly expanded training division with help from three captains. Ghi is a veteran firefighter with 30 years of experience in Virginia and Maryland. In Virginia, he most recently supervised five fire stations and 63 firefighters. He has also served as a field training officer at the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Academy.
Some, however, remain skeptical of the changes.
Jay Lowry, a former Charleston firefighter who writes the Internet blog Firefighter Hourly, pounced on the photo Wednesday, saying that it demonstrates a “casual disregard for safety” by the Fire Department’s leadership. Commanders need to make sure firefighters are wearing air packs, particularly since the city just shelled out more than $800,000 to outfit the department with state-of-the-art breathing equipment, he said.
“Why spend the money if you’re not going to wear the equipment?” he asked.
Roger Yow, head of the local union representing about half of the city’s firefighters, said the photograph is evidence that “nothing has really changed” in the Fire Department. Emotions remain raw, morale is low and firefighters remain frustrated with the pace of improvements, he said.
“The fire chief and their public relations officer are singing a good tune about firefighter safety, but they aren’t practicing what they preach,” he said.
At Yow’s invitation, Schaitberger and a team of union leaders arrived in Charleston on Wednesday to meet behind closed doors with city firefighters about the state of the Fire Department.
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