An internal report on the Charleston (SC) Fire Department’s response to a March 1 fire chronicles mistakes that parallel those made during the June 2007 Sofa Super Store fire that killed nine firefighters, according to a report by The Post and Courier (http://bit.ly/s2tNso).
Fire Chief Thomas Carr acknowledged problems at the Daniel Island fire which gutted a two-story office building at 899 Island Park Drive. A panel of firefighters reviewed firefighters’ actions that day, but Carr said he rejected the resulting draft report when he got it six weeks ago because it had errors and failed to live up to its intended purpose, namely educating firefighters rather than assigning blame.
According to a portion of the report (view at http://bit.ly/s2tNso) obtained by the newspaper describes “major” violations of policy and assigns blame for those mistakes. It raises questions about the handling of the fire, the effectiveness of the training firefighters have received and the integrity of the promotion process at the fire department.
The final report is still being checked and proofed and has yet to be released.
Read the full newspaper rundown at http://bit.ly/s2tNso.
