Panel urges sweeping changes in safety, training, leadership at Charleston Fire Department

By Ron Menchaca
The Post and Courier

AP Photo/Stephen Morton Firefighters from Charleston embrace in front of the rubble of the store after the fire.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Bringing the tradition-bound Charleston Fire Department in line with modern firefighting practices could take years, cost millions and require fundamental shifts in attitudes toward safety, training and leadership, if the recommendations of an independent panel of firefighting consultants are adopted by the department.

The city hired the six-member independent panel of experts in August to recommend improvements in the wake of the June 18 Sofa Super Store blaze that killed nine of the department’s firefighters.

Mayor Joe Riley said he views the report as a “management analysis” that provides the city with a “opportunity and responsibility to allow our excellent fire department to move toward a new level of achievement.”

The 38-page report issued Wednesday paints a stark picture of an insular department where leaders stifle dissent, rely on outdated methods and lack sufficient training and education. The department’s culture does not sufficiently emphasize safety and concentrates too much authority in the chief’s office.

While it does not refer to Fire Chief Rusty Thomas or any department leaders by name, the report makes it clear that commanders do not place enough emphasis on training or keeping pace with current firefighting tactics and practices.

The panel’s recommendations touch on virtually every area of the department’s management, organization and procedures and raises serious questions about the extent to which city firefighters were prepared and equipped to handle the fatal sofa store fire.

While panel members say their report was written as if the sofa store fire never occurred, several of the panel’s recommendations deal with issues that firefighters and experts from around the country have said played a role in the tragedy.

The panel has yet to tackle the specifics of the sofa store blaze — that’s planned for phase two — but its report offers a detailed snapshot of the inner workings of the department at the time of the fire.

Panel members noted that the report is “directed toward identifying areas of concern.”

Basic equipment
City firefighters lack some basic equipment and conveniences to perform their jobs, from inadequate flashlights and hazardous work uniforms to worn out protective gear, outdated air tanks and fire trucks without air-conditioning.

The equipment–related issues range from relatively minor ones such as upgrading flashlights to costly purchases such as outfitting the department’s existing fire trucks with air-conditioning.

Other items won’t cost a dime, but are likely to be contentious, such as a recommendation that Thomas open a dialogue with “local organizations that represent the interests of firefighters.” The primary organization that does that is the local firefighters union. The two sides have long had a prickly relationship and some union members have called for Thomas’ ouster in the wake of the fatal blaze.

AP Photo/Alexander Fox Smoke billows from the warehouse on the day of the fire.

In all, the panel’s report contains nearly 200 separate recommendations, organized by subject area and priority. Among the issues identified as top priorities that should be implemented immediately or as soon as possible:

-Increase manpower by 15 percent to ensure fire trucks have enough firefighters aboard to battle blazes safely and effectively.

-Provide more training and education throughout the fire department.

-Replace or upgrade a hodgepodge of protective gear that doesn’t meet current firefighting standards.

-Ban dangerous tactics at fire scenes and adopt a culture in which “safety must become a primary consideration for all fire department activities.”

-Spread leadership among department commanders and encourage rank-and-file firefighters to participate in decision-making and feel free to offer critical opinions.

-Establish an organized approach for responding to fires, based on severity.

-Upgrade equipment, such as buying larger supply lines and attack hoses that will allow firefighters to dump more water on fire more quickly.

In coming years, the panel recommended, the department should:

• Hold public forums that allow residents to share their perceptions and expectations regarding the fire department.
  
• Update firefighting manuals and textbooks at all city fire stations.
  
• Purchase a simulator to educate firefighters about the warning signs of flashover, a process in which super-heated contents or structures spontaneously ignite.
  
• Create a multi-acre, state-of-the-art training facility and invite area departments to participate as part of a regional training program.
  
• Seek national accreditation through the Center for Public safety Excellence, a process that could take years.

Several of the panel’s other recommendations are tied to guidelines issued by the National Fire Protection Association, a fire prevention organization on whose reports many firefighting standards are based.

Some of these standards were cited in the recent violations issued against the city by the state office of Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Riley and attorneys representing the city have argued that the city can’t be held responsible for the association’s standards unless they have been specifically adopted into state law.

The report also delves into fire protection issues in other city departments. For example, the panel recommends that the city’s building inspectors work more closely with the fire department to check existing structures fire code violations. The panel’s report recommends that the fire department assign a liaison to coordinate with city building inspectors to reduce the risk of fires before firefighters have to respond.

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