Bridgeport fire officials' failure on nearly every level led to the deaths of two firefighters battling a West Side blaze last July, a federal report has concluded.
Among the findings of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health report released Wednesday: The deputy fire chief and his assistant at the scene of the Elmwood Street fire had a discussion about whether they heard a mayday call from the two fallen firefighters instead of taking immediate action to rescue them.
There was no rapid intervention team readily available to come to the firefighters' aid.
The report stated firefighters failed to immediately treat one of the firefighters who managed to make it to relative safety before collapsing.
Officials also did not properly manage firefighters' air supplies -- both firefighters' air cylinders were empty when they were found, the report stated.
The department's incident safety officer, who is required to be on scene for assistance in a fire, did not arrive until more than 20 minutes after the initial dispatch.
Lt. Steven Velasquez and firefighter Michel Baik died while checking out hot spots in the third floor of the wood-frame home at 41 Elmwood Ave.
Read the entire paper write-up HERE. To download NIOSH firefighter LODD reports, go to http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/.
No comments:
Post a Comment