The close-knit firehouses of Charleston lost a meticulous leader, a coach to young athletes, an unofficial barber and a few light-hearted pranksters among nine firefighters who perished in the deadliest day for the profession in the U.S. since the Sept. 11 attacks.
“I lost nine of my best friends,” said Charleston Fire Chief Rusty Thomas, choking back tears Tuesday. “To the families, you gave them to us, and we protected them as best as we could.”
Mayor Joseph Riley said the dead firefighters, who among them had more than 130 years of experience with the Charleston Fire Department, gave “the last full measure of devotion” to the community.
The cause of Monday night’s blaze at a one-story furniture superstore was still under investigation, although officials said earlier in the day they did not believe arson was involved. The building had no sprinkler system. Furniture stacked on shelves provided the kindling, and the roof collapsed within 30 minutes of the firefighters’ arrival.
Carol Harken of Charleston, a customer service representative for a cable company, watched the fire from across the street. “It was an inferno. That fire went so fast those guys didn’t have a chance,” Harken said. “It looked like the building melted.”
Tuesday was a day of shock and mourning, particularly among firefighters who work and live together during 24-hour shifts.
Firefighter Bryan Bolick, 28, had swapped shifts with Brandon Thompson, one of the firefighters who died, so that he could play in a charity golf tournament Monday night.
“He was a go-getter, a very aggressive fireman. He was like a brother to me,” Bolick said, sitting outside a loan office across the street from the fire scene.
Three of the dead firefighters worked in Bolick’s firehouse. “This is devastating for us as a family,” Bolick added.
Five of the dead had been stationed at the Ashley Hall Plantation Road Firehouse. Capt. William “Billy” Hutchinson, 48, had served as unofficial barber to firefighters and their family members.
A former professional barber, he would bring his clippers and scissors to work and pull a kitchen chair into one of the station’s bathrooms. Everyone from battalion chiefs to firefighters’ children would come by for $3 haircuts, said Capt. Gary Taylor.
Haircuts sometimes free
“A lot of time Billy didn’t even charge. He’d say, ‘Take care of me next time,'” Taylor said.
Bradford “Brad” Baity, 37, a former Marine who worked in the same firehouse, was known as a quiet, gentle man who was legendary for his thriftiness, colleagues said. He doubled as treasurer for the firefighters union.
James “Earl” Drayton, 56, a 32-year veteran firefighter, “loved the fire department,” Taylor said. He was always willing to pull duty for a colleague and habitually reported for work at 6 a.m. or earlier for an 8 a.m. shift.
“The last thing I remember him talking about was taking his grandkids fishing. He did that a lot,” said firefighter Laval Green, 35.
Of Capt. Louis Mulkey, 34, Bolick recalled that Mulkey helped coach football at Summerville High School.
“Louis Mulkey definitely went the extra mile with a lot of things. Everything he did, he made sure he did it right. Every job we did, he’d stay there the longest, he would make sure everything got done,” Bolick said.
Mayor Riley spoke for many here and across the country when he told a morning news conference: “Nine brave, heroic, courageous firefighters of the city of Charleston have perished fighting fire in a most courageous and fearless manner, carrying on their duties.”
On Tuesday, the store lay in charred ruins. Much of the building’s facade had peeled away. Scorched metal and cinder blocks were exposed on a collapsed section of the front wall. The roof had collapsed behind it. An uneven, jagged row of corrugated metal stood in the rear of the store, which was located along a busy highway.
Nine crosses stood on a grass strip in front of the parking lot, each fashioned from white metal pipe and with an American flag planted beside it. Passers-by left flowers, balloons and more flags behind them.
The fire resulted in the worst loss of life on a single day for American firefighters since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
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Questions mounted as to what went wrong inside the Sofa Super Store and warehouse. Thomas told reporters he “would not comment on the sequence of events.” Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten said officials did not want to “mis-serve their [firefighters’] families by jumping to conclusions.”
16 firefighters were inside
At least 16 firefighters were in the warehouse during the 30 minutes before the roof collapsed and killed nine of them. Several survivors were seen crawling out of windows to safety, witnesses said.
Thomas said that someone had reported people trapped in the building in a 911 call. Witnesses described seeing one civilian escape the fire and firefighters helped another out.
Investigators will likely examine the structure of the building to determine the strength of the roof supports and how long those supports could have withstood the extreme heat from a fire before giving way.
Atlanta Fire Chief Harold Miller said in a CNN interview that the kindling-like nature of furniture stacked on shelves created the potential of a “tremendous amount of heat.” A steel truss roof — one not supported by pillars mounted into the floor of the building — would be more vulnerable to an early collapse, Miller said.
“I don’t know that that one had a steel truss roof, but it appeared that it possibly could have,” he said.
Larry Langford, director of media affairs for the Chicago Fire Department, said he would not second-guess how the Charleston department handled the fire. Langford said, though, that roof design is critically important in determining how Chicago firefighters battle blazes.
“If it is a truss roof, then you make an entry early, but if it’s any kind of a fire, they’ll get out fast,” he said. “You don’t have much time.”
Thomas said his firefighters were prepared to deal with the fire. “They were doing what they were trained to do,” Thomas said.
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Nine who died were devoted to their jobs
The nine men killed in Charleston, S.C., had an important quality in common: a devotion to duty.
Firefighter Earl Drayton
A 32-year veteran, Drayton was the most experienced of the nine. The 56-year-old never sought promotion above rank-and-file firefighter — a job he loved, said Fire Chief Rusty Thomas.
Capt. Billy Hutchinson
The 48-year-old was a firefighter for three decades, and was a former professional barber. He sometimes set up a chair at the fire station to give haircuts to co-workers.
Capt. Mike Benke
With nearly three decades at the department, Benke, 49, would fill in for battalion chiefs when they took vacations. Benke was known for his quiet confidence and leadership abilities.
Capt. Louis Mulkey
The 34-year-old, a former football player at Summerville High School, was a volunteer coach there and always found a way to switch shifts during football season so he could attend the games.
Engineer Mark Kelsey
When the 40-year-old fire truck driver wasn’t working in Charleston, he was about 20 miles up the road doing the same job for the Ashley River Fire Department.
Engineer Brad Baity
The 37-year-old fire truck driver had worked for the department for nine years and exuded calm. “In a day’s time, I bet Brad wouldn’t say 10 words,” Chief Thomas said. Off duty, he was a house painter.
Asst. Engineer Michael French
It took the 27-year-old only about a year in Charleston to be promoted to assistant engineer, meaning he sometimes drove fire trucks, a job most people wait two or three years to get.
Firefig hter Brandon Thompson
The 27-year-old broke his leg last year while helping a friend cut down a tree. He didn’t have much sick time accrued, so he kept working, helping the mechanics.
Firefighter Melvin Champaign
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The 46-year-old joined the department only two years ago. Nicknamed “Pimp Daddy” for his flashy wardrobe, he often quoted Bible verses in conversation.
— Associated Press
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Want to make a donation to the firefighters’ families? Send contributions to The City of Charleston Firemen’s Fund, P.O. Box 304, Charleston, S.C. 29402.