Charleston fire chief in eye of storm

Calls for him to be removed intensify after draft report on deadly fire, but mayor defends him

By The Associated Press

CHARLESTON — A federal draft report on the mistakes made in the fire at a Charleston furniture store that led to the deaths of nine firefighters has renewed calls for the city’s fire chief to step down. But the mayor maintains there is no need for changes in leadership.

The report released Thursday by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health blamed a lack of water for helping the June 18 blaze at the Sofa Super Store grow into an inferno and provided family members and fellow firefighters with some of the most complete descriptions of what their loved ones endured.

“I felt a certain helplessness as I glimpsed through the eyes of those courageous firefighters, inside that inferno, without the proper equipment, without water and without a command structure watching their backs, protecting them,” International Association of Fire Fighters general president Harold Schaitberger told The (Charleston) Post and Courier.

Jean Dangerfield said she stayed up Thursday night to read the report about the blaze that killed her brother Michael French, Ladder Co. 5 assistant engineer. But she said the report is still not complete.

“We already know what happened at the end. We’re living with that every day,” Dangerfield said. “We need to know what started this.” An official cause of the fire has not been released.

At least one family member says the firefighters should never even gone into the building. “Why? Why were they ever let in there? For what? A bunch of furniture,” said Ann Mulkey, mother of Engine 15 Capt. Louis Mulkey.

Mulkey is among those calling for changes in leadership at the Charleston Fire Department. “There should be someone held accountable. A couple of people,” she said.