THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 19, 1996 TAG: 9603190265
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Long : 153 lines
Two firefighters were killed Monday when falling debris trapped them inside a burning auto parts store.
Other firefighters traced the path of the men's severed hose to locate the bodies, found side-by-side under a tangle of twisted steel and charred lumber. Their deaths in the line of duty are the first in Chesapeake in more than 20 years, and the first in the area since 1992.
Killed were Frank E. Young, 38, a 15-year veteran, and John R. Hudgins Jr., 32, a 10-year veteran.
The accident happened at the Advance Auto Parts store in the Indian River Shopping Center sometime after the swiftly moving fire was reported at 11:27 a.m.
Store employee Mike Clemons said he dashed from the building just as burning ceiling tiles began to fall - and just as a crew of firefighters entered through the rear door.
Division Chief Thomas H. Cooke said the two-man team entered the rear of the store and had advanced about 25 feet into the building when the ceiling fell. The team was one of several attacking the fire from different angles, Cooke said.
Cooke said the two firefighters were reported missing about 25 minutes after entering the blaze when a name-tag system that tracks their whereabouts showed they never left the building.
However, others involved in the blaze said a shelf of merchandise fell on the two firefighters, trapping them. With portable radios, the struggling firefighters called for help. Someone heard their pleas and broadcast: ``Firefighter down.'' Then, the roof collapsed.
Young was a firefighter and paramedic, a freelance photographer, president and co-founder of the Tidewater Fire Photographers Association, and a father of two. He lived in Virginia Beach.
Hudgins was also a father and lived in Chesapeake. Both men were assigned to Company No. 3 on Rokeby Avenue, barely a mile from the Indian River Shopping Center.
When Young and Hudgins were reported missing, other firefighters began searching, Cooke said. Two hours later, they found the missing firefighters' bodies.
``It has been confirmed by our search-and-rescue crews that we have recovered the bodies of two firefighters,'' Cooke told reporters at the scene.
``Needless to say, we are terribly disturbed and distressed by what has happened,'' Cooke said.
Soot and anguish covered the faces of the dozens of firefighters from Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Norfolk who battled the blaze and searched frantically for their missing colleagues.
Most firefighters were visibly shaken, their faces sullen and blank as they watched and waited near the steaming, smoking debris. They erected screens and a tent for privacy from the crowd of spectators that gathered in the shopping center parking lot.
Inside the building a red-orange tarp covered the bodies of the fallen firefighters, and what appeared to be bouquets of fresh flowers were placed nearby.
Young and Hudgins are the fourth and fifth members of the Chesapeake Fire Department to die while on duty. The other deaths were more than 25 years ago.
Monday's fatalities are the first fire-related deaths among South Hampton Roads firefighters since two members of Portsmouth's department died in 1992 after their health was worsened by fighting fires.
Cooke said the members of his department ``are devastated right now.''
Materials used in the building's construction and the flammable contents of the auto-parts store, such as motor oil and other fluids, probably fed the fire's rapid progress, Cooke said.
More than a dozen pieces of firefighting equipment were used to quell the flames that shot through the roof of the shopping center at Indian River and MacDonald roads, just past the Virginia Beach boundary.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but fire officials said a power-company employee may have been responsible.
A Virginia Power employee had completed routine work at the shopping center and, as he was driving away, a boom on his truck snagged the overhead line carrying power to the auto-parts store, according to a statement released by the utility.
The boom wasn't properly secured, according to the statement.
The employee said the line didn't break, but he did see an electrical flash near the store and he cut the power service. Then, the fire broke out.
There was damage to neighboring stores, but the fire was confined mostly to the auto-parts store. A damage estimate was not available.
Clemons, the Advance Auto employee, said power failed in the store just after 11:20 a.m. Clemons said about six customers and as many employees were inside and that most left the store. Then he noticed flames around the store's water heater.
Clemons grabbed a fire extinguisher and smothered the flames. He called the Fire Department as a precaution.
Then, Clemons said, he looked at the air vents near the ceiling. He saw a flickering orange glow coming from behind the metal grates. He knew that meant a fire was swiftly spreading between the store ceiling and the building roof.
Clemons ran outside as debris began falling. Firefighters were charging inside.
Both Young and Hudgins wore personal alarms, a motion-sensing device that emits a piercing squeal if a firefighter remains still for a time. Cooke said the devices were working, but weren't helpful because the piles of fallen debris made the men difficult to find.
Fire officials knew Young and Hudgins were missing because a system that tracks firefighters through name tags showed everyone except the pair had been accounted for.
Local fire departments keep track of members with similar name-tag systems. When firefighters report for duty, or when they enter a burning building, crew members remove their name tags from their helmets, and those tags are posted on a board. Then, fire officials can tell where members are assigned.
It was through this system that Chesapeake fire officials learned Young and Hudgins were missing.
The names of the two firefighters will be added to a memorial in front of the police and fire headquarters building on Albemarle Drive.
Fire officials said a memorial fund will be set up for the men's families through NationsBank. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN / The Virginian-Pilot
Firefighter David Elliott is comforted by Carl Brazell Jr. outside
the Indian River Shopping Center, where two of their friends died
fighting a fire Monday.
HUY NGUYEN
The Virginian-Pilot
At upper left, a red-orange tarp and, a few feet away, flowers were
left in the area where the bodies of the firefighters had been
found. The cause of the fire is under investigation, but officials
believe it might have been sparked by a utility worker.
"FIREFIGHTER DOWN"
JOHN CORBITT
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
TOM VANHORNE III
Smoke billowing from the Indian River Shopping Center attracted
spectators from miles around. Firefighters shaken by the loss of
their colleagues erected screens and a tent for privacy.
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
The Virginian-Pilot
Chesapeake Fire Lt. John Harkins, off duty, hugs a fellow
firefighter while making a telephone call. At this point the
firefighters knew that two colleagues had died in the blaze.
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
The Virginian-Pilot
A Chesapeake firefighter passes the burned-out auto parts store in
Indian River Shopping Center where two of his colleagues died under
falling debris hours earlier.
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE FIRE FATALITIES FIREMEN FIREFIGHTERS by CNB