Hungry for Change
I was in Charleston, S.C., on the three-month anniversary of the fire that killed nine firefighters. Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. gave his first report to the community that day. The report outlined the behavioral health and financial assistance to the fallen firefighters’ families and praised the Post-Incident Assessment and Enhancement Review Task Force that was brought in to assess the fire department and make recommendations to help bring the department into the current century.
Riley repeatedly praised Fire Chief Rusty Thomas and his officers for implementing 19 of the task force’s 27 initial recommendations, including mandating seatbelt use, assigning an assistant to the fire chief, and designating the first dedicated safety and public-information officers. Interviewing procedures have been changed and are under way for hiring additional firefighters and dispatchers; the task force recommended that two dispatchers be on duty at all times.
Riley has committed to finding the money to fund all the recommendations. He’s also pledged to change the city’s fire-sprinkler code and to wave the water system‘s impact and tap fees. Riley, Charleston’s mayor for 32 years, also is up for re-election.
Thomas has committed to changing both his management style and his department. That‘s a pretty big pill to swallow. Can Thomas and his officers do it? They are pretty hungry, but the cost for this meal will be staggering, and the mayor and the community might choke on the tab.
I will have more from Thomas and Riley in FIRE CHIEF’s October issue.
A television reporter tracked me down while I was in Charleston to ask about my editorials and other blog postings. (Read the video and see the interview She asked me if I had questioned the chief about his statement that he would fight the fire the same way.
No, I didn‘t ask him why he made that statement. I didn‘t ask because when he made the statement only 36 hours after the fire, I‘m sure he was grieving his lost firefighters and his mind was on fighting fires the only way he knew how. I didn‘t because I see the widespread changes he is desperately trying to implement.
And I didn‘t ask because more task-force recommendations are on the way and because there are voices out there calling for him and the mayor to resign. He doesn‘t need stupid questions right now.
Related Topics: Janet Wilmoth, Incident Command, Management & Administration, Leadership
September 21st, 2007 at 11:27 am
No doubt change, and big change needs to be made, but not by Chief Thomas or Mayor Riley. THey have already allowed a system to decay to the point that it cost the lives of many good men.
Call it what you want, but they are directly responsible for the outcomes of their actions.
Sorry, to late, get someone else and start new, but dont think that just becasue a tiger is showing its teeth to you that it is smiling.
September 21st, 2007 at 11:35 am
So many times you read the reporters questions and comments leaving open to interpetations and miss quotes. It is very rare you read someones article and know they truly care, are sensitive and have an understanding of a situation. Your last sentence of this article says it all. “He doesn’t need stupid question right now”
Thank you for your honesty and caring.
September 21st, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Janet;
Excellent edotorial and very well said. All of the geniuses in our profession will do enough finger-pointing over this incident to last us all a lifetime. The wisest among us should not point fingers, but (rather) should look to see what lessons can be learned and what can be improved so that we don’t face this type of trajedy again. For example, it’s easier to win the lottery in NC and SC than it is to get legislation passed that would allow a local option on sprinklers. That simple change alone, along with the elimination of hookup and tap fees, would probably do more than anything to prevent similar incidents in the future, at least in the long run. Thanks and let’s all stay safe. - Bob R.
September 21st, 2007 at 2:27 pm
A received a friend of mine who’s a chief officer on the West Coast that I thought was very thought provoking (He’s given me his permission to share with readers of the Mutual Aid blog.)
My colleague wrote:
Hey, got a question for you. I‘ve been reading the CP online versions and get the weekly email. I just am amazed at the support and kindness that the Charleston Fire Chief is getting. Not so much from Janet, but from the world at large.
Had that fire occurred in our region, the Chief would have been “roasted”, Labor and Industries would be fining the stuffing out of the department, civil suits would be flying, and the Chief would have been forced into retirement already.
Do you see that as a cultural difference from one coast to the other, or did Chief Thomas have such a strong following (similar to Bruno) that he could do no wrong?
Don‘t get me wrong, I really applaud the fact that people have avoided the “Monday Morning Quarterbacking.” (I push my guys to learn rather than criticize all the time.) I think that it is great that the Chief and the Department are being allowed to learn and improve. I just know that from seeing about two minutes worth of video on Firehouse.com, that had I been in command of that incident in this area, I‘d be out of a job.
Again, nothing against Chief Thomas, that was a rough incident, that got rougher when he had to make the call to stay defensive.
Some interesting thoughts and perspective…
I agree wholeheartedly with Chase Sargent’s comments above. The people of the Charleston Fire Department and people of Charleston, SC, deserve new leadership that has the strength and the credibility to re-engineer the department as necessary to ensure that everything that can be done, is done, to ensure that those 9 firefighters did not perish in vain.
The same goes for the Mayor…how come it seems that only in the United States do those in positions of authority when things go very wrong, on “their watch”, do not do the honorable thing and resign, like the leaders in other countries and cultures?
September 21st, 2007 at 2:35 pm
It will take a widespread change in tactics before tragedies like Charleston stop occurring. This was one of the latest incidents where it strongly appears that a disorientation sequence unfolded on the fireground in an enclosed structure. The major problem is that it could have happened anywhere. Many operational and safety precautions must be used at every structure fire if injuries and fatalities are to be prevented but it will not happen nationally until all departments first learn that enclosed structures will take the lives of firefighters who initiate aggressive interior attacks. For more info on this topic please go to: USFA Firefighter Fatalities website, Links of Interest. Stay Safe.
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:37 am
Accountability at the top is one thing, but clearly everyone is responsible for safety, theirs as well as their coworkers’. Janet’s point about political opportunism (or perhaps desperation) and the mind-boggling cost of implementing all of the recommendations show us just how expensive the alternative to common-sense can be.
I accept that the initial response was heavily influenced by the need to locate and rescue (successfully) a missing store employee. But with this part of the job done and conditions deteriorating rapidly, I am left wondering how much it would have taken to withdraw and protect exposures.
Clearly, I don’t have the whole picture, but the information available suggests that a great many decisions on the fireground could have been made much better by firefighters accepting the limitations of their equipment and training and taking more responsibility for their own safety. Neither Chief Thomas nor Mayor Riley choose to initiate an attack with hose reels for instance.
I had the misfortune of investigating a number of high profile line-of-duty death cases in the early 1990s. In the vast majority of those cases, the firefighters who perished played significant parts in the cascade of failures that led to their own demise. Holding the fire chief and mayor accountable may make people feel better, but it will not in or of itself change the culture or the values of the firefighters until and unless they accept their share of responsibility for safety.
Before the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation co-opted the expression “Everyone Goes Home”, people almost unfailingly uttered it only in unison with its companion expression “Do the Right Thing”, as in DTRT-EGH. That linkage acknowledges the individual and collective responsibility of everyone to do what must be done to achieve the desired end of firefighter safety.
The right thing may or may not involve significant expense. When will we tell communities openly and honestly that we cannot do everything they ask or expect of us? When will we tell them that certain risks are not worth taking? And how far will we go to help them meet the expenses of installing sprinklers in their buildings to improve own own safety and that of the communities we serve? Wouldn’t it be better to sacrifice a few firefighters’ jobs by not adding positions to the roster when new buildings meet or exceed fire sprinkler requirements rather than risking the deaths of firefighters called to quell impossibly large and dangerous fires in buildings without fire sprinklers?
At the risk of seeming unduly smug about this, I would like to suggest that these questions are a lot less dumb than the one Janet rightly avoided asking. We protect no one by assuming that the fallen were victims of others’ errors alone. After all, do you think they would fight this fire the same way again if they had the chance?
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:02 pm
It would have been great if you could have talked to the growing number of officers, including chiefs, who are coming forward with information. Talking with Chief Thomas and two other members can certainly give a minority view. Obviously, with the way publications have to be printed it’s not possible to view the firefighters coming forward now but Chief Sargent’s quote above will prove to be very accurate in the next 3 months.
Kudos Chief.
September 28th, 2007 at 10:35 am
I hope you will consider a follow-up piece that shows whether in-depth progress is occurring. For example, I hope you will report when in-depth RIT training has been scheduled, or larger-diameter hose has been ordered. As you aware, the panel of fire experts released a set of preliminary recommendations in mid-August.
Here is the training recommendation: “Provide training for all Fire Department members in firefighter safety and survival, risk management, air management, standardized actions for lost/disoriented firefighters, rapid intervention operations, objective-based tactical operations, and other critical firefighter safety procedures.” I know some members of command staff recently received training, but there needs to be a comprehensive training plan at all levels.
As of this week (week of Sept. 24), the mayor stated in a more targeted interview that larger diameter hose has not been ordered yet. The city is apparently waiting on specific hose recommendations from the review panel. I don‘t know if the city has attempted to expedite the process - but I would think the panel would respond if asked. I hope a major fire doesn‘t break out in another big-box store with high fire load or in a multi-story, high-occupancy building before hose diameter is increased.
October 8th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
No, the hose hasnt been purchased yet, but it is marked as “Implemented” on the Mayors master plan. For those of youunfamiliar with this department, dont be too easy on the Chief. No, he hasnt slept a night since this happened, but had he kept up even a LITTLE with the times, the education, and with purchasing the equipment his department needed 20 years ago we wouldnt be discussing buying LDH and new non-polyester uniforms now! The union has been asking for this and MUCH more and has always been dismissed because they always back non-Riley candidates. PLEASE open your eyes and LOOK towards Charleston and HELP these firefighters out. EVERY department in the area is hiring these guys one after another in an attempt to make sure no one else is killed. Dont lose any sleep over RT or JR….they made their beds, tehy can sleep in them.
October 10th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Chief Thomas had 15 years to implement ICS, LDH and other changes that most departments of that size implemneted 10-20 years ago. In 2002, the (unrecognized) union local recommended adoption of NFPA 1710 and was ignored. This step would have meant that more than 11 personnel would have responded. There might have been more than three per apparatus. They would have had a command system, a safety officer, RIT, Accountability… none of these basics were in place. Four months later they exist mostly in memos.
The Mayor and Chief are not desperate to change. They are desperate to keep their jobs while implementing minimal change until all the troublemakers get tired of this story and move on.
It is shameful for anyone to blame the firefighters as kiwichief does. They have no say in how they fight fires. The engines have two hose reels and they are taught from day one that is the preferred line to pull. There are no deck guns. There are no split hose beds - they lay single 2.5″ supply lines (and that has not changed - now they just drag a second line - with three-man crews). And the first two chief officers on the scene treated it as a trash fire and an investigation. They were right there when the lines were pulled.
The rescue played no part in this tragedy. The store was clear, there is no indication they entered to search except for fire. The call for rescue came after the firefighters were already in trouble, probably because they ran out of water and the growing fire overran them - that’s when they became “disoriented” and began calling unheeded for help.
This culture starts at the top. It is totally autocratic and change has to start at the top. For decades the leadership there has been willfuly negligent, have not progressed a day in at least 40 years. They left their firefighters unprepared for this fire and are directly culpable for these deaths.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
I was a CFD fireman in the 1970s and 1980s. Rusty Thomas failed the brothers of the CFD and those 9 dead firemen. Tough questions need to be asked and for the media and journalists to give him a pass is terrible ! Rusty Thomas feels that his way is the only way and if you doubt it talk to the rank and file brothers and not the bootlicks on the CFD !
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