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Washington's Bravest Remembered
Story Updated: Sunday, June 6, 1999 – 2 pm
Washington Post Reports "Flashover Theory" May Not Have Been Cause;
Investigators Looking at Hoseline Use and Ventilation
Related Links | Pension Debate
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- An estimated 1,000 firefighters, friends, family members, politicians and
citizens attended funeral services for Washington, D.C. Fire and EMS Department Firefighter
Anthony Phillips Friday and again on Saturday for Firefighter Louis Matthews.
Phillips and Matthews died as a result of injuries sustained in a reported flashover
on Sunday. Meanwhile, the investigation into their deaths has taken a turn.
Sunday's Washington Post newspaper
reported that a preliminary investigation has raised doubts about whether a flashover occurred because
furniture and other items on the first floor did not burn. While the firefighters injured were in the "path of
superheated gases," it remained unknown exactly what was the cause.
The Post story raised the possibility that there was insufficent ventilation and
crews from another engine company may have opened a line in the basement while crews were
on the first floor, where the injuries occured. The investigation was just beginning, District Fire Chief
Donald Edwards told the Post.
To allow all on-duty District of Columbia firefighters to attend funeral services,
firefighters and rescue workers from the surrounding jurisdictions filled in at
stations in the city. Dozens of engine and truck companies from Prince George's (MD),
Fairfax (VA), Montgomery (MD), Occoquan-Woodbridge-Lorton (OWL) Volunteer Fire Department (VA),
Alexandria, Arlington, Walter Reed (Army), and Falmouth (VA) will be providing coverage in
the city on both days along with rescue squads from OWL, Hyattsville (MD) and Falmouth.
Many of those same companies providing emergency service to the city will also be sending
units to the funeral, as well as staffing their own stations. Companies along the border of
Washington may also respond to calls within the city.
A third firefighter remained in critical condition Sunday morning, but was doing well.
Fire officials said he was improving, able to talk and had been in intensive therapy. His
long term prognosis has not been released.
Matthews, 29, a 7-year veteran, of Hyattsville, died Monday afternoon at about 2 p.m.
at Washington Hospital Center's MedStar Burn Unit. He suffered burns to about
90-percent of his body.
Matthews is a divorced father whose son turned two years old on Sunday. He was assigned to
Engine Company 26, the first arriving unit to the scene.
Phillips, 30, of Engine Company 10, died in the flashover. He leaves
behind a wife, Lysa, and two children, ages 6 and 21 months. His family was at the station
visiting with Phillips hours before the tragic fire. Engine 10 is among the busiest engine
companies in the United States.
Phillips was the first firefighter to be buried at the new Fort Lincoln "Last Alarm" memorial
park.
Firefighter Joseph Morgan, Jr. remained in critical condition at Washington Hospital
Center's MedStar Burn Unit and underwent surgery, but District fire officials said he
was "improving and doing well," but asked that people continue to pray for him.
Morgan, a 36-year-old eight-year veteran who was with Engine 26,
received burns to 60% of his body. Firefighters and others have been donating blood at Washington Hospital Center to help Morgan.
Also injured was Lt. Charles Redding, the officer from Engine 26. The 41-year-old,
17-year-veteran received burns to 15-20% of his body and was released from the hospital the
day after the fire.
On Sunday, May 30 at 0016 hours, the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department
received a call for the report of a house on fire at 3146 Cherry NE. Fire units arrived on the scene within four minutes and calls for additional units were made at 0023 hours and again at 0033 hours.
Engine Company 26 was the first to arrive and reported smoke showing. They, along with Engine Company No.10, entered the first floor at the front door and proceeded down a hallway toward the rear of the house.
Phillips was advancing a back up line to assist the crew of Engine Company 26 -- Redding, Matthews and Morgan. As conditions deteriorated, a flash over occurred thereby trapping the firefighters.
Phillips was removed from the building and transported to the Burn Unit at the Washington Hospital Center where he later succumbed. An autopsy has revealed that he died of "asphyxiation due to inhalation of superheated air, soot, and smoke."
"As is customary in this business, an interior attack was initiated, but something went
terribly wrong," Edwards said.
Edwards called the blaze a 'tremedous, explosive fire.'
The fire, which is under investigation, apparently started in the basement and progressed up the basement stairs to the first floor, A smoke detector was in the house and alerted the residents who then made their way out to safety.
Part of the floor collapsed during the blaze, but Edwards said the injured firefighters
were out of the building by that time.
Members of the city's critical incident stress team were working with the city's
firefighters, especially members of Engine Companies 10 and 26, who have spent most of the
past day at the hospital.
Firefighter Phillips and Matthews are the 96th and 97th District of Columbia firefighters
to die in the line of duty and the first line of duty deaths since Sergeant John M. Carter died in a
grocery store fire at 4th and Kennedy Streets, NW on October 24, 1997. It had been 13 years since
Washington lost a firefighter before Carter's death.
The incident marked the first double line-of-duty death in almost 90 years. On October 14, 1911,
two District firefighters died battling a blaze on Pennsylvania Avenue in Northwest Washington.
Pension Debate
Meanwhile, a local television story about low death benefits for the city's firefighters and
police officers has triggered its own debate. Now, city Mayor Anthony Williams has gone in
support of a bill before the city council to increase the benefits for surviving family members.
The families of the city's public safety workers typically receive less money from pension
benefits when their loved ones die than if they lived and retired on disability.
The bill before the council would allow 100% of the annual salary. Action is expected within
a few weeks and will be retroactive to help the families of recent public safety employees
who have died in the line of duty
When three firefighters were killed in a fire in Lake Worth, Texas earlier this year, a
similar debate was ignited. Two of the firefighters who died were career firefighters in
Fort Worth, but were volunteering at the time of their deaths and their wives -- both of
whom were pregnant or new mothers -- were unable to receive full benefits.
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