BARTOW — The Polk County Fire Rescue captain overseeing the North Lakeland fire in November should have done more to save a 76-year-old woman who died in her home, according to a post-incident report.
Battalion Chief Jeremiah Gilley, who arrived later to the scene of the fire, wrote in an analysis report that Capt. James Williams and a fellow firefighter should have put on masks with breathing apparatuses and grabbed tools to try to rescue Lorretta Pickard from her burning home at 13802 Rockridge Road on Nov. 23.
"Awaiting more personnel for a two-in, two-out rescue, although safer, was not necessary in this situation because of the report of entrapment," Gilley wrote. "A more thorough examination of the structure should have been performed by walking around all sides of the structure except where the power line had fallen, to verify any possible routes remaining of ingress and egress."
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Included in the analysis were reports from responding firefighters and battalion chiefs, all of whom said no injuries occurred to firefighters.
That contradicts what Deputy County Manager Joe Halman and Fire Chief Tony Stravino have said.
During a news conference earlier this month, Halman and Stravino said Williams suffered minor steam burns to his left arm and the side of his face when he attempted to enter the structure.
"From a tactical standpoint, I don't know what we could have done differently," Stravino said at that time. "We followed procedures."
Halman declined to comment Tuesday, citing the ongoing outside investigation by Emergency Services Consulting International. The county is paying that company $38,881 to determine what went wrong at the fire.
Gilley wrote that Williams' inexperience and lack of knowledge played key roles.
"A fire of this magnitude, coupled with the logistical and geographical challenges, along with the entrapment of a human, was overwhelming to this inexperienced crew and would overwhelm many others in this same situation," he wrote.
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