THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 30, 1996 TAG: 9608300521
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY AND ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 97 lines
A supervisor for the state agency that cited the Chesapeake Fire Department for serious safety violations says the findings document problems that directly contributed to the deaths of two firefighters in a March fire.
``Any one of those things by itself perhaps would not have caused a death,'' Elizabeth B. Tomlin, region supervisor for the state's division of Occupational Safety and Health, said Thursday. ``But we had a constellation of things going on at once. When you have one error, it compounds with another error and it leads to a deadly situation.''
That seems to contradict Chesapeake Fire Chief Michael L. Bolac's understanding of the findings. He said this week after the report was issued that he interprets the state's citation as showing that ``a very intense investigation found that none of these things caused the deaths.''
``I think the bottom line is, if you look at each one of them (the violations), there's nothing there, that I can see, that contributed to their deaths,'' Bolac said.
He said he met on Tuesday with Lloyd Bolt, the accident investigator who probed the March 18 fire at an auto parts store that killed Frank Young and John Hudgins Jr. Bolac said Bolt was complimentary of the department, and did not say that any of the violations caused the deaths.
Bolt declined to comment on Thursday and referred questions to Tomlin, his supervisor.
Bolac said on Thursday that he disagrees with all three of the state's findings, and plans to ask for a hearing to contest them. Specifically:
The state report said there were no backup crews standing by while the two firefighters were in the burning building, as required by law. Bolac said that is not true. Backup firefighters arrived four minutes after Young and Hudgins entered the auto parts store, he said. Even if they had attempted to rescue Young and Hudgins, they likely would have perished too.
The state cited Chesapeake for a broken water gauge on Young's and Hudgins' pumper truck. But Bolac said the water gauge was not a factor in the tragedy; the two firefighters didn't run out of water before they died.
The state report said Chesapeake's fire plan, called a pre-plan, was inadequate because it did not show the nearest hydrant and listed the wrong type of roof for the auto parts store. Bolac said the nearest hydrant was across the city line in Virginia Beach, and so was not included in the Chesapeake fire plan. Besides, he said, lack of water was not a factor in the deaths.
``Are they saying that if the pre-plan was right, they wouldn't have died? Are they saying that if the gauge was working, they wouldn't have died?'' Bolac said. ``It's ludicrous.''
A fire authority said Thursday that if the pump gauge had been in working order, an operator could have warned the firefighters that water was running low and that a supply line had not been connected. They may have had time to get out of the building, he said.
If firefighters had known that the building's roof trusses were wooden, they may not have entered the burning structure, the official said. The building was incorrectly identified as having a metal roof.
``We'll never know what Johnnie and Frank knew about the type of roof. So whether they felt it was metal or wood, they made a decision to go in, in spite of that,'' Bolac said.
If the fire department and state agency cannot negotiate an agreement on the three items in the citation, the matter would go to court for resolution.
Tomlin said the violations cited in Chesapeake represented the most grave within the ``serious'' category, one of four categories the state uses. Had the problem occurred in the private sector, a maximum fine of $7,000 could have been levied. The agency is not allowed to fine a local government, she said. The four categories are ``other than serious,'' ``serious,'' ``willful'' and ``repeat.''
In 1995, there were 3 serious citations involving fire departments, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Labor and Industry.
The agency has conducted 1,156 inspections this year. Inspections are prompted by complaints or fatalities and are sometimes conducted randomly or as part of special programs.
The inspections have resulted in 1,536 serious citations, 43 repeat citations and 9 willful citations.
In 1995, there were 2,510 inspections, producing 3,533 serious violations, 127 repeat and 9 willful.
Bolac said his disagreement with the state's conclusions did not mean he would ignore the problems.
``They're serious violations,'' he said. ``We're taking them seriously.''
Bolac said his department already has fixed all the problems the state cited. The pumper truck with the malfunctioning gauge has been taken out of service. Firefighters have been ordered not to enter a burning structure under any circumstances until a backup crew is on the scene. And firefighters have been warned to take more care when drafting fire plans for buildings.
City Council members Tuesday approved a plan, backed by Bolac, to label buildings with wood-truss roof construction, the type of roof the auto parts store had. Those roofs are more prone to collapse in extreme heat or fire.
Bolac said the investigations, scrutiny and criticism were taking a toll on his department.
``How would you feel, when you know that these 350 employees do the best job that they possibly can, and between the media and these special interests, they are constantly being questioned?'' ILLUSTRATION: INVESTIGATION OF TWO CHESAPEAKE FIREFIGHTERS' DEATHS
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATION by CNB