If we could only...
If we could only turn back time.
My thoughts today and the last three days have been consumed by the fire service, fire, and tragedy once again.
My sincerest heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and families and friends of people who were lost in the horrible fire at the Station nightclub in West Warwick this week.
I cannot imagine what they are feeling and the suddenness of their loss and the uncertainty of waiting for confirmation about a fate you already know.
There is also another extremely heavy weight I am carrying this weekend. I sat back and realized that I probably know 50 or more of the people that responded to this tragedy.
For some years I was a callman in the West Warwick Fire Department. My Uncle worked there for 30 years. When I was in the Harris Fire Department in Coventry many of my friends and people that trained with us became members of the Department and went through this ordeal. Many of my friends and co-workers from Coventry went through this ordeal.
Chief of department Hall was the director of training in Rhode Island, a professional mentor and friend, Many of the mutual aid chiefs were mentors and friends. Bob and Jack and many many others.
State Fire Marshal Owens and Investigator Richard James and others...the list goes on and on...
One of my closest personal friends and truly like a brother to me is Battalion Chief Jerry Tellier.
To those folks, I do not know what you have experienced, I hope I never ever have to find out.
I hope you know that I am sharing the pain that each and everyone of you are feeling. My thoughts and prayers are with you and the members of your family that are helping you share this incredible burden.
To those reading the column this week, please go to the firehouse website, click the link for the West Warwick Fire Department and take five minutes to send an e mail and support these brave men and women that responded to this incident.
Some 96 lives were lost....many people self evacuated, but I have already heard tales of firefighters pulling people out at tremendous personal risk under horrible conditions. Many many heroic acts were performed that night by firefighters who were "working a night tour" on a Thursday night in a small new England town. I will bet that not many of them gave that a thought when they left their house for work that night.
Everyone has their own definition of hero. Mine has just been revised and refined a little bit more.
These firefighters shall never ever be the same by the things they never should have seen.
I did receive a call though from another close personal friend ....Bill. Bill is a fire chief who like me was becoming a little frustrated with the media and even some of our own professional fire service folks.
There was a tremendous focus on the pyrotechnics. The film that has been seen around the world clearly shows how the fire started. I am OK with that and Bill and I understand that.
The fireworks went out. They were not the "accellerant" they were the ignition. The rapid fire spread throughout that building is the message we should be giving to the public. I do not know what the other materials were and all of that will come out in the investigation I am sure. What I do know is that I have been aware of rapid fire spread from things that I have seen, and certainly from things like the NIST tapes and movies like Countdown to Disaster from the NFPA.
The public should be focused on the speed at which fire travels.
The public should be focused on the fact there is no light in a fire.
The public should be focused on the toxic nature of smoke.
The public should be focused on the heat, not only of the flames but the temperature of the smoke.
Bill and I were commenting that if 50 people died in a plane crash their would be some change in airline regulations or technology.
If someone gets killed in a tank or confined space regulations change.
I watched the news and there was an anti war protester talking about preventing our young people from coming home in body bags.
How ironic.
96 young people came home in body bags on Friday and nobody is protesting, nobody really wants to change.
How long will their memory last. The public's memory will be erased quickly. The memory of those firefighter's will never be erased.
In the 1940's in Boston over 400 people died in a crowded nightclub with flammable decorations, and could not get out of an exit. They were killed by a rapid spreading fire that started in a corner near the ceiling.
It happened in Southgate Kentucky at Beverly Hills Supper club, MGM grand, and Happyland in New York.
Fire service professionals must push for mandatory sprinkler legislation in all occupancies but particularly places of assembly.
Fire service must aggressively pursue fire code and fire safety regulation enforcement and if there are attempts at political interference then those people who attempt to interfere (politically) shall be criminally charged with obstruction of justice.
The federal government should provide funds to assist the local authorities and I will be so bold as to say that we should actually divert some of the homeland security moneys to this.
On September 11, some 3000 Americans died at the World Trade Center due to a horrible attack. We clearly needed to react to this and we did.
Every year. That's right Every year about 4000 Americans die by fire anyway.
The terrorist used fire. The subway fire that just killed 121 in Korea. death by fire.
Protection from fire is a real homeland issue and maybe somebody will realize this.
Yes, Bill and I realize the pyrotechnics caused the issue, but I ask what a discarded cigarette in the rest room or a fire in the kitchen had been the cause, the result would have been the same.
The killer and enemy is fire.
I started with "If we could only..."
Let us all think about how we as professionals can fix this and be sure this does not happen again.
Maybe some day I could write a column that starts with..." Yes we can"
God Bless all that have been affected by this horrible fire.