Charleston, S.C. – More than a dozen firefighters who rushed into the burning furniture superstore knew – or thought they knew – two things: employees were trapped inside and the blaze was small enough to control.
But within moments, flames swept across the warehouse, blowing out windows and collapsing the roof in a twisted mass of brown steel. Nine men were killed in the nation’s biggest loss of firefighters since 9/11.
“I lost nine of my best friends,” said Fire Chief Rusty Thomas, choking back tears Tuesday. “To the families, you gave them to us, and we protected them as best as we could.”
The cause of the fire Monday night at the Sofa Super Store and exactly how the men were killed were under investigation, but officials said arson was not suspected.
One fire captain said the men might have fallen victim to a flashover, in which superhot gases heat a building and its contents so intensely that they literally burst into flames.
Buildings that contain a lot of furniture are especially vulnerable, because of the wood lacquer, polyurethane foam and other combustible materials that can reach flashover at a relatively low temperature – sometimes within minutes of a fire’s outset.
Other officials, however, said the roof collapse might have killed the firefighters.
The fire chief said there was no indication his firefighters did anything wrong.
“They did exactly what they were trained to do,” Thomas said.
Through the night, firefighters, police officers and other rescue workers saluted as the firefighters’ bodies were carried from the smoldering ruins, with the last victim removed around daybreak.
The first emergency calls came in at about 7 p.m., and firefighters were told two employees were trapped.
Later Tuesday, however, the fire chief said only one employee was believed trapped.
The employee made it out alive, Thomas said, but he said it was unclear whether it was firefighters who rescued him.
