Charleston Fire Probe Going Quickly
Dozens of federal investigators were going through the rubble of a Charleston furniture store Thursday, as the investigation into the fire earlier this week that killed nine firefighters continues.
"We will follow the investigation thoroughly and make sure we understand everything happened," Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. promised Wednesday.
Investigators said Thursday that their work is going much faster than expected, reports CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick.
Earl Woodham with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said between 40 and 60 investigators are going through the fire scene, after a crane removed pieces of the roof at the Sofa Super Store on Wednesday night to allow access.
"We've made fantastic progress in this investigation," Woodham said. However, it still has to be a very systematic, deliberate investigation, because we are talking about evidence of fire and the natural elements of the rain. Everything has to be very systematic, very deliberate in gathering and examining this evidence."
Thursday was the first day investigators could get into the building.
"The roof was dangerous. It was melting and falling down," Woodham said. "The crane worked into the night and first thing this morning. The first area that we removed the roof from was areas that were interest of us."
Investigators were using two dogs trained to find accelerants that might have enhanced the Monday night blaze, although arson is not suspected.
Assistant Fire Chief Larry Garvin said he made three trips in and out of the furniture store, and each time the smoke seemed thicker — but still, nothing inside seemed to be burning. As many as 16 firefighters entered to train hoses at the fire on the loading dock.
Then firefighters got word that a store employee had called 911, saying he was trapped in a repair shop in the rear of the building. Garvin and four other firefighters went to the back, chopped through a locked gate with an ax and heard the man banging on the wall with a hammer.
That someone was Jonathan Tyrrell, a store employee, reports CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella.
"The first thing that popped into my head is I wouldn't be able to see my wife and little girl again," Tyrrell said.
Tyrrell was pulled out just before the roof collapsed.
Garvin said that when he returned to the fire trucks, he was told several men hadn't come out of the store. The fire was burning inside, having intensified within minutes, and grew hot enough to blow out the store's windows.
Firefighters sounded an air horn on one of the trucks three times — a signal to warn anyone inside the building to get out. Nobody emerged. No one answered radio calls. Firefighters who tried to rescue those inside were forced back by raging flames, Garvin said.
A few minutes later, the roof collapsed in a pile of twisted metal.
"The collapse of the roof did not cause injuries to the firefighters that resulted in their deaths," said Coroner Rae Wooten, adding that it is impossible to know whether the collapsed roof trapped the firefighters, leading to their injuries. "The cause of their death has been determined to be a combination of smoke inhalation and thermal injury."
The city and the South Carolina's Labor, Licensing and Regulation Department say they plan to investigate whether Charleston fire crews violated safety procedures and whether they had proper training and equipment to respond to the blaze, the nation's deadliest firefighting tragedy since Sept. 11.
"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 Wednesday, adding that he's confident the department followed proper procedure.
Fire officials have defended how they handled the fire.
"They didn't make a mistake when they first went in there," said Assistant Fire Chief Ronnie Classen. "They did exactly what they were supposed to do, there's no question."
A public memorial service is planned for Friday morning in North Charleston.