Two Years Later, Charleston Tragedy Still Fresh for Fire Fighters

June 18, 2009 – Charleston, SC Local 61 and the city of Charleston, South Carolina, are marking the two-year anniversary of the Sofa Super Store fire, the inferno that killed nine fire fighters who were trapped inside the building. The nine deaths made it the deadliest fire in the fire service since September 11, 2001.

Although the Sofa Super Store occurred two years ago, the tragedy remains fresh in the memories of Charleston fire fighters, Charleston Local 61 President Bill Haigler says. “Everybody here still does something everyday to remember the guys who died,” he says. “Moving forward is great. That’s important. But we need to remember these guys.”

A ceremony, to take place June 18 on the site of the former Sofa Super Store, will allow fire fighters, family members and the public to remember the men – Bradford Baity, Michael Benke, Melvin Champaign, James Drayton, Michael French, William Hutchinson, Mark Kelsey, Louis Mulkey and Brandon Thompson.

The city purchased the sofa store property for $1.85 million after the fire. The store and warehouse were demolished in 2008, and the 2.5-acre site has remained vacant. Charleston’s city commission is considering proposals to build a memorial to the fallen fire fighters. The city set aside $90,000 to pay for design plans, but there’s no money in place now to fund a memorial. A proposed design of the memorial includes placing a marker where each fire fighter was found in the Sofa Super Store ruins.

The site of the memorial also would include a building that will serve as the new headquarters for the Charleston Fire Department and a training facility.

Today’s ceremony begins at 6:00 p.m., when fire fighters and families of the fallen fire fighters will meet privately at the site of the tragedy. The public will be allowed onto the grounds from 7:00-10:00 p.m.

The low-key ceremony will include just one formal presentation. Charleston Fire Chief Thomas Carr will read the names of each of the fallen and a bell will be rung in honor of each man.

“This seemed to make the most sense," says Carr. "The families and the fire fighters drove this. We got a lot of feedback from them, and they said they wanted to be together and be in the stations. It’s all part of the brotherhood," says Carr, who was hired by Charleston in October 2008.

In the days leading up to that anniversary, Charleston fire fighters are inspecting the city’s furniture stores to review the risk of fire at each business and help with plans to improve safety by eliminating the threat of fire and prevent another tragedy. The inspections are a legacy to the fallen fire fighters.

The Sofa Super Store fire “is still in the front of everyone’s mind," says Carr. "Everyone’s wired differently, but it’s certainly ever present. That said, it provides us with a focal point as we move forward.”

Other events have been held to honor the Charleston fire fighters who died. Local 61 organized a 5k race on Sunday, June 14 – the “Run for the Nine” – to remember the men and raise money to buy equipment for the fire department.

The Charleston Fire Department has 60 more fire fighters than it did in June 2007, and when the current recruit class of 29 graduates in August, the department will have four fire fighters on every truck.

The additional staffing addresses one concern: The report by the city’s own panel, headed by Gordon Routley, concluded that the department was “inadequately staffed, inadequately trained, insufficiently equipped and organizationally unprepared to conduct an operation of this complexity in a large commercial occupancy.”

In June 2008, a report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives concluded that the Sofa Super Store fire probably began after someone tossed a lit cigarette near trash and discarded furniture.

Read the Charleston Post & Courier story