By Glenn Smith and Ron Menchaca
The Post and Courier
 AP Photo/Alice Keeney Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. addresses the media during a news conference after the fire as Chief Rusty Thomas wipes away a tear. |
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A widely anticipated investigative report of the events and circumstances that led to the deaths of nine Charleston firefighters at the Sofa Super Store will be delayed indefinitely while at least two federal agencies complete their probes of the blaze, Mayor Joe Riley said Friday.
But the head of the city-appointed panel conducting the investigation said his team’s work is complete and it was prepared to deliver its findings to city officials next week as planned.
The announcement immediately sparked criticism and concern that the city is attempting to stave off criticism of the Fire Department’s handling of the fatal blaze. The report is expected to include a detailed narrative of the department’s response to the fire, what firefighters did right and what they did wrong.
“You don’t lose nine men like this and turn around and keep delaying reports for one reason or another,” said Randy Hutchinson, a former Charleston firefighter who lost his brother, Capt. William “Billy” Hutchinson, in the fire. “That’s not right and that’s not what the city said it would do.”
Last week, Riley issued a memo to City Council explaining that the report would be delivered within the first two weeks of May. But he said Friday that a new photo from the fire recently surfaced, causing city officials to question whether more time was needed to make sure there was “no stone unturned” in the probe.
The city reviewed its contracts with the panel, which stated that the group’s investigation should “take into account” information from federal probes into the June 18 blaze. The city decided to wait until at least two of the probes are finished, Riley said. One of those investigations could take more than two months to complete.
He said the city was concerned about the possibility that the panel’s report would be seen as incomplete if subsequent federal reports showed different findings. “We have a responsibility to make sure it’s as accurate and comprehensive as possible.”
Riley said the panel’s report could be released over the summer, but he refused to commit to a definite timetable.
The city sent out a press release announcing the decision at 6:48 p.m. Friday evening. Riley said city officials spoke with family members of the fallen earlier Friday and they signed off on the decision. He said the wishes of the families, though reinforcing, would not have made a difference in the city’s decision to delay the report. He said the news wasn’t released to the public earlier because he “had a busy day.”
Former Louisiana Fire Chief Gordon Routley, leader of the city-appointed panel of experts, said he saw no reason for delaying the report’s release, but the decision is out of his hands. Routley said the panel has met regularly with the other agencies investigating the fire and that its report is informed by the work and findings of those agencies. He said he did not have any concerns that the panel’s report could be contradicted or at odds with reports from those other agencies.
“We were prepared to come out with a comprehensive report,” he said. “But the city is the client. They are paying the bill.”
The city wants to wait on a report from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which is examining the factors that led to the firefighters’ deaths. In addition, the National Institute of Standards and Technology is using a computer model to reconstruct the blaze to determine why the fire spread so rapidly, why the building quickly collapsed and whether sprinklers could have saved lives.
 We wish they would just go ahead and do all this and be done with it. It’s just agonizing on the families.  | ||
| — Dorothy Baity, Mother of fallen firefighter | ||
Routley said the NIOSH report is probably about one month off. The NIST report could be as much as two or three months out, he said.
Still, Routley said he believes his team has already incorporated in its report the information gathered by those agencies.
The Routley panel’s report originally had been expected as far back as December, and more recently it was anticipated by the end of April. The delay is likely to intensify emotions among families, city firefighters and others who have been waiting nearly a year for answers about the deaths.
Some questioned whether the delay was prompted by the city’s desire to avoid bad publicity and finger-pointing as Charleston gears up for the Spoleto arts festival, its showcase tourism event. The one-year anniversary of the fire is also right around the corner, and the city has been working with families to host a solemn memorial to commemorate the tragedy.
Hutchinson said he thinks the city is trying to avoid uncomfortable facts coming out just ahead of these events.
“They don’t want the facts out there because it will be really bad,” he said. “It’s going to show how the Fire Department has been poorly run all these years.”
Dorothy Baity, mother of fallen Engineer Brad Baity, said the wait is hard on the families, but there is nothing they can do about it.
“I feel like the city is just buying time,” she said. “We wish they would just go ahead and do all this and be done with it. It’s just agonizing on the families.”
Ann Mulkey, mother of fallen firefighter Capt. Louis Mulkey, said the city notified her family of the delay but she was under the impression that they meant a delay of a couple weeks. When told the report could be months away, she said “I hope not. We’ve all waited long enough.”
“We are very disappointed,” she said. “We were anxious to get the report out.”
Jay Lowry, a former Charleston firefighter who writes the Internet blog Firefighter Hourly, said news of the delay was devastating to people who had waited patiently for answers about the fire. He questioned why the city hadn’t simply announced its intentions a month or two ago instead of building expectations with a planned release date.
“Why allow it to get to this level?” he asked. “This was handled poorly. That’s the bottom line. ... What are they afraid of?”
Riley said the report will become a historical document that will be read by firefighters around the country for decades to come. Riley said he understands that some will accuse the city of attempting to delay the report to avoid criticism, but the city could not risk releasing such an important document prematurely. “Self-imposed deadlines are not relevant to the real task.”
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