Firehouse.Com News
The Phoenix Fire Department released a report detailing the timeline of the
March 15, five alarm fire which took the life of firefighter Bret Tarver.
The release said an evaluation of the fire by captains and battalion chiefs
will begin, looking into technology, and to exploring ways that separate search
and rescue.
"We feel that the things that went right saved both Firefighter Tomazin’s
and Firefighter Joy’s life. As well, we believe that there is always an
opportunity to evaluate events in a fire and make changes according to those
findings."
The Phoenix Fire Department Report
On Wednesday, March 15, 2001, a report of a debris fire was received from a
caller in the 1500 block of north Lynwood Street. The caller reported a fire
in a pile of debris at the rear of an Ace Hardware store located at 35th
Avenue and McDowell Road. Engine 24 was dispatched to the fire reported by
the caller.
Before the incident was dispatched, Phoenix Fire Department vehicles in the
area saw smoke and asked the Alarm Room by radio and telephone if there was
a working incident in West Phoenix. One of those units was Battalion 3, the
command officer responsible for West Phoenix. Based on the volume and nature
of the smoke he was seeing, Battalion 3 ordered additional fire department
resources to assist. Battalion 3 also responded to the incident.
The fire department unit that is normally closest to 35th Avenue and
McDowell Road is Engine 14. Fire Station 14 is located at 1330 N. 32nd Ave.
At the time of the dispatch, Engine 14 was out of service as the engineer of
the company returned to quarters after the unit had undergone some repairs.
The Engine 14 engineer heard the dispatch of Engine 14, saw the smoke in
their area, called Fire Station 14 to alert the rest of the crew and picked
up the crew for their response to the call. The captain of Engine 14 added
his unit to the incident by computer and informed Battalion 3 of their
arrival on the scene.
Battalion 3 ordered Engine 14's crew to enter businesses that back up to the
debris fire to evacuate occupants and to determine if fire had spread to the
inside of the businesses. Another fire company was in the process of
searching a clothing store and the hardware store. Engine 14's crew searched
the barbershop that was adjacent to the Southwest Supermarket, found it to
be unoccupied and clear of fire, and moved on to the next business, the
Southwest Supermarket.
When they entered the supermarket, Engine 14's crew found only light smoke
at the ceiling of the main store. The crew moved to the southwest portion of
the building and entered a storage area. They found heavy smoke and moderate
heat in the storage area. They reported this fact to Battalion 3 and went
back to the front of the store to get a hose line from another unit that had
arrived at the front of the store, Engine 3.
A hose line from Engine 3 was extended to the storage room and water was
applied to the fire by the crews of Engine 14, Engine 3 and Rescue 3.
Visibility in the storage area was near zero and the ability to see in the
supermarket worsened quickly.
Tarver, a member of the Engine 14 crew, told his captain that he was running
low on air in his Self-Contained Breath Apparatus (SCBA) and needed to leave
the building. The captain gathered his crew together and told them to follow
the hose line out to the exterior. The engineer led out, followed by two
firefighters, with the Engine 14 captain at the back.
As the two Engine 14 firefighters, including Tarver, turned to leave, they
became disoriented and ran into a wall. They got back up, turned in the
direction that they thought was the correct way to go and ran into another
wall. Somehow both firefighters ended up in the rear portion of the main
supermarket space.
Tarver called for help on his radio. The firefighter who was with Tarver
became separated from him and later exited the building to the south with
the assistance of other firefighters.
The Engine 14 captain heard Tarver's request for help. He notified Battalion
3 that he had two firefighters that were unaccounted for. The Engine 14
captain quickly spoke to the captain of Engine 21 and told him to follow
Engine 3's line to Tarver's last known location.
The Engine 21 captain and two firefighters entered the building immediately
and followed the hose line. Visibility in the supermarket had dropped to
zero. They came upon Tarver. He was lost, out of air, standing on his feet
and calling for help. The Engine 21 captain brought Tarver down to the hose
line and instructed him to follow it the exterior.
Tarver had become incapacitated by the smoke and did not obey the
instructions of the Engine 21 captain. Tarver crawled a short distance, then
stood up, turned and disappeared into the smoke. The Engine 21 crew was low
on air at this point and had to leave the building.
When Battalion 3 heard that there were two Engine 14 firefighters missing,
he immediately activated two Rapid Intervention Crews (RICs). The function
of these crews is to go into a hazardous situation and rescue firefighters
who are in danger.
The members of Engine 18 and Ladder 9 entered the supermarket from the east
with extra breathing air equipment to search for Tarver and the other
firefighter from Engine 14. While the RIC crews were unable to locate the
Engine 14 firefighters, they did remove other firefighters from the
building. As they left the supermarket, the interior of the supermarket
became fully involved with fire. Further entry from the east was impossible.
At the same time as RIC crews were entering from the east, firefighter John
Tomazin of Rescue 3 heard Tarver's call for help. Tomazin found Tarver in a
meat preparation area just off the main retail area of the supermarket; he
was conscious and calling for help. Both firefighters were out of air and
attempted to crawl to safety. Tomazin used his radio to tell Battalion 3
that he was with Tarver. Both firefighters became incapacitated, Tarver in
the meat preparation area and Tomazin in a meat cooler that was attached to
the meat preparation area.
As Engine 21 and the RIC teams were exiting the east side of the building,
Engine 25's crew was searching from the south. As he moved northward, the
captain of Engine 25 heard calls for help from his left. He entered the meat
preparation area and followed the sound of Tomazin's voice to his position
in the meat cooler.
Visibility in these rooms was zero. Tomazin was able to tell the Engine 25
captain that he was with Tarver before he became unconscious. The Engine 25
captain turned Tomazin over to his crew; they removed him from the building
with the assistance of other firefighters.
The Engine 25 captain attempted to move Tarver by himself, but was unable to
move him. The captain ran out of air at this time. He turned and saw that
the interior of the supermarket was fully engulfed with fire and that escape
to the north was impossible. He began to crawl to the south, but became
entrapped in the same room where he found Tomazin.
Another crew that was searching for Tarver heard the sound of Tarver's PASS
alarm and entered the meat preparation room. As the Engine 6 crew entered
the room, they came into contact with Tarver and the captain of Engine 25.
The captain of Engine 25 was removed to the south exit by other
firefighters.
The engineer and senior firefighter from Engine 6 repositioned Tarver and
were able to remove him from the meat preparation room into the main storage
room.
The movement of Tarver was made extremely difficult by the smoke condition
in the storage room, the water that was falling as a result of fire
suppression efforts, the heat of the fire, obstacles that blocked the path
of the exit and caught on Tarver's clothing and protective equipment,
falling debris, the limited air supply in his breathing apparatus and
Tarver's physical size.
Timeline of the March 15 Fire
4:54 p.m. -- Engine 24 dispatched
5:00 p.m. -- Engine 24 arrived on scene
5:00 p.m. -- Battalion 3 arrived on scene
5:01 p.m. -- Engine 14 added to the call and arrived on scene
5:11 p.m. -- Engine 3 reported a working fire in the storage room
5:26 p.m. -- Firefighter Tarver requested help
5:27 p.m. -- Battalion 3 assigned RIC teams
5:33 p.m. -- Firefighter Tomazin with Firefighter Tarver
5:36 p.m. -- E25 Captain with Firefighters Tomazin and Tarver
5:42 p.m. -- Firefighter Tomazin treated outside
5:46 p.m. -- Firefighter Tomazin loaded for transport to the hospital
5:47 p.m. -- E6 Captain with E25 Captain
5:49 p.m. -- E25 Captain out of the building
5:52 p.m. -- E6 requests help with Firefighter Tarver
6:19 p.m. -- Firefighter Tarver out of the building
Related:
