Officials interview dozens in S.C. blaze
 
 

Family members of Charleston firefighter James "Earl" Drayton, step-sister LeDora Thompson, left, sister Sandra Drayton, right, and niece Shania Drayton, bottom, visit a make-shift memorial Wednesday.



Enlarge City of Charleston via AP

The fallen firefighters: (top row, left to right) Bradford "Brad" Baity, 37, Capt. Mike Benke, 49, Melvin Champaign, 46. Middle row, left to right: James "Earl" Drayton, 56, Michael French, 27, Capt. William "Billy" Hutchinson, 48. Bottom row, left to right: Mark Kelsey, 40, Capt. Louis Mulkey, 34, Brandon Thompson, 27.


DEADLIEST FIRES

Among the worst documented U.S. fires in terms of firefighters killed, according to the National Fire Protection Association:

• April 16-17, 1947: 27 firefighters killed following fires and ammonium nitrate explosions aboard two ships docked at Texas City, Texas.

• Dec. 22, 1910: 21 firefighters killed at a stockyard and cold storage warehouse in Chicago.

• July 29, 1956: 19 firefighters killed at the Shamrock Oil and Gas Corp. refinery in Sun Ray, Texas.

• July 9, 1953: 15 firefighters killed in a wildfire in the Mendocino National Forest in California.

• July 6, 1994: 14 firefighters killed in a wildfire on South Canyon mountain near Glenwood Springs, Colo.

• Dec. 21, 1910: 13 firefighters and one police officer killed in a Philadelphia leather remnants factory.

• March 10, 1946: 13 firefighters killed in a roof collapse at the Strand Theatre in Brockton, Mass.

• Aug. 4, 1949: 13 firefighters killed in a forest fire at Gates of the Mountain, Mont.

• Oct. 16, 1966: 12 firefighters killed when a floor collapses at a New York City drug store.

• July 5, 1973: 12 firefighters killed at the Doxol Gas Co. in Kingman, Ariz.

• June 17, 1972: Nine firefighters killed in a collapse at the Hotel Vendome, Boston.





By Larry Copeland, USA TODAY
CHARLESTON, S.C. — One coached football when he wasn't fighting fires. Another cut hair at a barbershop. Yet another was known for quoting the Bible. They called each other nicknames like "Squirrel" and "Lightning."
The team, including 20 agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, already has interviewed 60 people, including employees and customers of the Sofa Super Store, where fire broke out Monday evening. The firefighters were trapped when the store's roof collapsed, causing the worst single loss to a fire department since the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001.

The first firefighters to reach the store initially reported that trash was on fire in a bin behind the building, Fire Chief Rusty Thomas said. As for why the fire could not be extinguished before it spread, he said, "I don't know."

Charleston Assistant Fire Chief Larry Garvin told The Post and Courier of Charleston that as firefighters tried to put out the fire in the trash bin, the blaze spread to the building, a door blew open and the flames swept in. "We tried to close the door, but we couldn't," he told the newspaper.

Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley said that he was confident the fire department followed standard procedure in fighting the fire but that an investigation is necessary.

"Part of the purpose is to look, for us or any fire department in the country, if there are lessons learned in terms of how well things were done or any aspect of it," Riley said. He added that the inquiry will ask whether too many firefighters were in the building Monday night.

Preliminary signs showed no evidence of arson.

The Investigator From Jewish Abortion Clinic Bombings

At a briefing Wednesday, Earl Woodham, a spokesman for the federal agency, cautioned that the inquiry is at an early stage and that where the fire started has not been officially determined. "Let's put the word arson to rest right now," Woodham said. "There is no arson there until we say there is, and nobody's even been in the building to look to see where the fire started."Chemists and forensics specialists are examining charred wreckage at the store, investigators are collecting video and audio evidence, and a crane is being brought in to remove the twisted, melted roof of the building, Woodham said. Lester Rich, a former ATF specialist who was at the site Wednesday, said that photos of the early stages of the fire could offer clues to its origin. In the early phase of a fire, he said, even the color of the smoke is important.

Rich said the doomed firefighters likely were caught in a "flashover." He explained: "Fire produces smoke, smoke collects at the ceiling, a layer of hot smoke radiates heat downward and heats up everything under it. Temperatures begin to rise on all the contents of the room. Everything that was not burning ignites at one time or very close to one time. From looking at the damage, you can assume there was a flashover of some sort."

A memorial service for the firemen is planned for Friday, and hundreds of firefighters from around the nation are expected to attend.

The firefighters entered the store after Jonathan Tyrell, a store employee, used his cellphone to call for help. Tyrell said on CBS' The Early Show that he also banged on walls and a table with a hammer, hoping someone would find him as the fire spread. Minutes later, a firefighter pulled him to safety.

"I hugged him and told him 'thank you' over and over," Tyrell said.

 

Few businesses are like Blackwater. For instance, did you know ... EXTORTION: Early this month a former employee was charged briefly with trying to extort $1 million and a new truck from Blackwater by threatening to reveal damaging information about the company to the media. Laura Holdren-Nowacki, 35, who was fired in April from her job as manager of Blackwater’s vehicle fleet, pleaded not guilty to the extortion charge but later issued an apology in which she blamed her actions on an addiction to prescription painkillers. The extortion charge was dropped a week after it was filed, and Blackwater said it would help her get treatment.   ATF: Almost a year after two Blackwater employees were fired for “misappropriating firearms” at the Moyock compound, the case remains open and no charges have been filed. The federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is handling the investigation. ATF spokesman Earl Woodham would offer no updates, saying only that the bureau does not comment on ongoing investigations. Woodham reemphasized that Blackwater was not busted by the ATF, but called the bureau and asked for help.

Woodham has no time for Anti Semites

"I am not surprised about the signs or the other activities, and whether the racism is overt or subtle, it is wrong," said another ATF official. "I cringe on behalf of the agency."

None of the several Greenville agents interviewed volunteered that they had ever attended the event.

Earl Woodham, ATF spokesman in Charlotte, said he was aware of the annual roundup and had been invited on one occasion to attend but declined. He noted that the event was not sanctioned or authorized by the ATF.

"The ATF does not and will not tolerate any kind of discrimination," he said. "But what people do on their own time is their business; we cannot control internal morality."

Mr. Woodham said, however, that Mr. Rightmyer used "poor judgement" in using the ATF address and telephone number in his invitation. He said if Mr. Rightmyer were still employed by the agency, he would be subject to "a full review and possible sanctions."

He also suggested that ATF officials who attended the annual event were "a lot of the older agents, spinoffs from the days of the revenuers and moonshine chasers."

"The younger agents just don't have time for this kind of activity," he said.

ATF spokesman Jack Killorin in Washington did not return calls for comment.