By Tim Thompson
Fires in storage unit facilities have a high probability of having a potential victim each time that firefighters respond to these calls. In just a few short years, the Georgetown (KY) Fire Department has had three fires in this type of structure, two within just the last year. One accounted for a total loss of a row of storage units, and the other two impacted the adjoining units and the unit where the fire originated. One thing that all three of these fires had in common was that there were homeless people staying in the structure.
The first of these three fires were started by a homeless person using a propane heater to stay warm, which ultimately led to him getting severely burned and the destruction of his property and everyone else’s in the row of units. The second was started by a homeless person who was burning a candle and left the unit to run an errand. This caused the total loss of her possessions and damage to adjoining units. The third fire was the one that bothers me, and I hope that our experience as a fire department can help you understand the true possibility of finding a body in a unit.
In my previous article, “Protecting the Community Through Code Enforcement,” I discussed why homelessness is a real issue in our communities now. I spent many a night not being able to sleep as our department’s fire marshal wondering if I had done everything in my power to eliminate unnecessary risks to the men and women who served our department by ridding Georgetown of dilapidated structures. As I had mentioned in that article, as we were making our rounds and finding more and more of these problem properties, we consistently found that people were sleeping in these structures. Structures with holes in the floors, collapsed ceilings, and broken windows. All these factors could cause injury or aid in the rapid spread of fire.
As we took steps to minimize the risk of injury or death to our firefighters, and anyone who may have been staying in these structures to stay out of elements by demolishing these buildings, we started to see a new trend. The thought of sleeping in a storage unit never crossed my mind, and I count that as a blessing. I have never been in the situation where I had to think about where I was going to lay my head at night, and I empathize with anyone who lives that reality. My job as fire marshal and now as fire chief is to try think of the risks within our community. I feel that any community needs to incorporate the threat of homeless using storage units as refuge in the fire department’s community risk reduction (CRR) programs.
After the first storage unit fire, I started to be proactive in trying to keep one of these fires from happening and taking someone’s life. I started making rounds around these facilities to see if I could notice any signs of anyone staying. The most obvious was looking for extension cords running to the unit. We made our rounds to the different storage units in town and spoke with owners and management about homeless individuals using their businesses as a home. They assured us that they would keep an eye on the situation and advised us that their lease agreements specifically state that this was prohibited. As we know too well, rules are made for those who follow them, and keeping people from occupying these units takes more than having verbiage on a piece of paper. In fact, we found two instances where we had people residing in units that we had to remove with the help of the management of the properties involved and our local code enforcement.
The Fire and Its Aftermath
In reality, there is not much that can start a fire in a storage unit complex. Most of the time there is only a light in or outside of the building with wiring in heavy metal conduit. They are typically block or metal buildings, and only the contents are flammable. The mindset for tactics when I first started for fires in these buildings was to try to contain the fire to the unit of origin. That is still the goal, obviously, but thinking a person would be in the unit was not the first thought that came to mind. That was my thinking, however, when we got toned out for a structure fire on this past October around 1400 hours. As I was heading to the door and passed my administrative assistant, I told her: “I know someone has to be in there.”
I was hoping I was wrong. The first engine company arrived and was working itself through the maze of the complex, looking for the unit of origin. Members broke the lock on the door and raised it, and they encountered not only the obvious smoke and fire, but also a large dog. It was hunkered down as low as it could get, trying to get any fresh air possible while the door was closed. The engine crew grabbed the dog by the collar and pulled him a safe distance away from the fire. EMS started using the pet kits that we have and supplied oxygen for the overwhelmed canine.
To some this may seem obvious, and to some extent, it is, but the immediate response when the dog was pulled from the unit was from a seasoned battalion chief, who immediately initiated a search. If you have never had a storage unit fire, a search is harder than it would seem. In a 10 x10 unit, people cram enough to fill two units, especially when it is a homeless person who has no other place to store their possessions. Imagine a hoarder house on steroids.
Inside the unit, the smoke was heavy, even though the fire was mostly contained. There was not any place for the smoke to lift to until a few moments later when the truck company made a cut in the roof.
After working themselves to the rear of the unit, the engine crew found a victim. His possessions had started falling on him. The work it took to get this gentleman out of the unit was not easy. In fact, the initial engine company had to be relieved, and another crew went in to extricate and detangle the victim from the unit. Once the victim was removed, it was obvious that the individual had passed and there was not anything we could have done differently that could have saved him.
After the gentleman was pulled from the storage unit and a white sheet was placed over him, I was distressed beyond words. No matter how long you are in this profession, the sight of a burnt body is something that you truly never get used to. I had seen my share before this day, but it still is an image that will stay with you. I looked around the scene and saw the young firefighters who were there. As their adrenaline diminished, the reality of what they just dealt with hit home. We had two new recruits there that day who happened to be close and who bore witness to the events that unfolded as well. One recruit turned in his resignation the following day. I went around to each person there and asked them if they were okay. Like all firefighters, they responded with a “yes” or “I’m good.” I continued over the next few weeks to ensure that they were indeed okay.
If seeing my guys deal with another traumatic event wasn’t enough to bring me down, I took this run personally. I had spent the last seven years as the fire marshal, cleaning up the community of dilapidated and blighted structures. The intent was always to keep my firefighters, the community in general, and the homeless specifically, safe. I had worked with storage unit owners and diligently tried to avoid this very scenario from happening, yet here we were. I had the feeling this would happen one day, and even as I walked out the door of the firehouse to get in my SUV, I was certain that this unit was occupied, but I hoped that we wouldn’t have a fatality.
We all take our jobs seriously, and we all tirelessly train to assist when the tone drops. Sometimes there is nothing we can do to change the outcome of the scene. If there was anything I would want to emphasize and pass on from the three storage unit fires, the two people we evicted from properties, and the one victim who perished, it’s this: treat every storage unit fire as if there is a possible victim inside. I say and write this repeatedly, but if you think your community does not have a homelessness problem, you are mistaken. People are desperate, and that desperation is intensified as the weather gets cold. Don’t think for a minute that you do not have individuals sleeping in storage units right now in your jurisdiction. We have hundreds of units in our community, and I am afraid to guess how many are still actively occupied by a homeless individual. All we can do is stay vigilant, work with the owners and managers of these properties, and prepare for a hoarder fire with search as we respond to these calls. I hope that you do not have to respond to one of these calls, but the likelihood that you will increases as our communities grow and people continue to try to find shelter and warmth from the elements.
TIM THOMPSON is a 19-year veteran of the Georgetown (KY) Fire Department. He has served in the rank of firefighter, captain, fire marshal, assistant chief of prevention, and chief. He is a member of the Kentucky Association of Fire Chiefs, where he is a district vice president and chairman of the Health and Safety Committee.
