NIOSH Investigation Report: North Carolina

Firefighter Nation

The NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program has released the investigation report of the line of duty deaths of two North Carolina firefighters.

Photo 3. B-side of millwork facility showing location of basement door. Time approximately 0830-0840 hours after Class A foam operations in basement had been suspended. Note that Quint 2 shown in background is not yet set up for master stream operation.
(Photo from fire department)

Photo 4. Overhead view of the area where the injured captain and two victims were located. The yellow line marks the location of the 2 ½” hose line following the incident. The pink line marks the location of safety rope deployed by the Quint 4 captain when the crew initially entered the office area through the warehouse. (Photo from ATF – provided by the fire department.)

Diagram 5. Location of Quint 4 captain and Squad 1 fire fighters during and after Maydays. Bold lines indicate masonry firewalls.

"On March 7, 2008, two male career fire fighters, aged 40 and 19 (Victims #1 and #2 respectively) were killed when they were trapped by rapidly deteriorating fire conditions inside a millwork facility in North Carolina. The captain of the hoseline crew was also injured, receiving serious burn injuries. The victims were members of a crew of four fire fighters operating a hoseline protecting a firewall in an attempt to contain the fire to the burning office area and keep it from spreading into the production and warehouse areas. The captain attempted to radio for assistance as the conditions deteriorated but fire fighters on the outside did not initially hear his Mayday. Once it was realized that the crew was in trouble, multiple rescue attempts were made into the burning warehouse in an effort to reach the trapped crew as conditions deteriorated further."

Read the Report
Two Career Fire Fighters Die at a Millwork Facility – North Carolina

The investigative report reccomends departments:

ensure that detailed pre-incident plan information is collected and available when needed, especially in high risk structures
limit interior offensive operations in well-involved structures that are not equipped with sprinkler systems and where there are no known civilians in need of rescue
develop, implement, and enforce clear procedures for operational modes. Changes in modes must be coordinated between the Incident Command, the command staff and fire fighters
ensure that Rapid Intervention Crews (RIC) / Rapid Intervention Teams (RIT) have at least one charged hose line in place before entering hazardous environments for rescue operations
ensure that the incident commander establishes the incident command post in an area that provides a good visual view of the fire building and enhances overall fireground communication
ensure that crew integrity is maintained during fire suppression operations
encourage local building code authorities to adopt code requirements for automatic protection (sprinkler) systems in buildings with heavy fire loads.

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by lhfd_firefighter on August 20, 2009 at 5:57am

i was born in north carolina and was devastated to hear this.RIP to our 2 fallen brothers.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Allen on August 20, 2009 at 8:35am

Any brother that falls is a tragedy. I read thru alot of the report and it bothers me that they would shut down a line to move an apparatus while you have firefighters inside on the end of the hose.
RIP my brothers, may you look over and and protect us from above.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by James R. Heath on August 21, 2009 at 10:29pm

may they rest in peace , god bless them and there familys ..there on heavens fd now

NIOSH Investigation Report: North Carolina

Replies to This Discussion

FireRescue Magazine

Find Members Fast