Two Fire Fighters Killed Trying to Ventilate Roof
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Two volunteer fire fighters died and a third was severely burned in the collapse of a store roof they were ventilating during a mutual-aid fire in historic Stillwater, the birthplace of Minnesota.
Two other fire fighters were injured in the $600,000 blaze that gutted a meat market and adjacent clothing store during the height of a 17-inch snowstorm during the night last Jan. 22.
Previous remodeling of the two 90year-old buildings on Main St. would not have met current building codes. The deficiencies contributed to communication of the fire and surprise collapse of the roof, according to David Chial, chief of the Stillwater Fire Department.
Started at oven
The fire is believed to have started in or near an overheated sausage smoking oven at the rear of the first floor of Brine’s meat market and restaurant, he explained. The three-story establishment, but only 26 feet wide, closed early because of the big snowstorm. When employees left at 5:30 p.m. they turned on the oven to cure a new batch of sausage overnight.
A short time later, the fire apparently spread in two directions. It went up a stairwell to the second floor and it traveled northward across the first-floor ceiling and over the top of a large meat cooler. In the small area above the cooler, there was extensive heat buildup against the ceiling and the upper portion of a wooden wall panel. The panel covered a side window that was filled in with one layer of red brick nearly 15 years ago.
The fire department was not aware of the improper window bricking, Chial pointed out. An investigation showed gaps of missing mortar between the bricks where undetected heat and fire seeped through to the adjacent Country Tailor clothing store.
This store included a two-story wood-frame addition at the rear of the original three-floor brick building. Unfortunately, Chial explained, a noncombustible exterior wall was not extended to the rear as part of the addition. Instead, 2X4 studs were simply placed against the brick wall and bricked windows of the Brine building.
Studs were ignited
“Not only did these studs provide an ignition point for heat escaping through the bricked-up Brine building window,” Chial said, “but they also supported the roof, although the current building code requires a noncombustible wall.”
In addition, the second and thirdfloor front windows of the clothing store facing Main St. were boarded over from the inside—hiding evidence of the fire’s early extension from the Brine building into the clothing store.
Fire buildup caused an electric wall clock inside Brine’s to stop at 7:15 p.m. and at 7:18 a passerby on the nearly deserted, snowy street telephoned to report smoke in front of the Brine building.
The call came into the Stillwater Fire Department, which has six full-time fire fighters including Chial, and 30 volunteers. The department protects 62 square miles and a population of 20,000 with two 1250-gpm pumpers (Engines 8 and 7), two 1000-gpm pumpers, a 1600-gallon tanker, a 100-foot aerial ladder truck, a rescue truck and a utility van. Because of the snowstorm, Chial had asked volunteers to stand by at the station to assist the regular two-man paid crew.
Two full-time and three volunteer fire fighters responded to the first alarm with Engine 8, after sounding a general alarm because the location was in the central business district.
Smoke reported
On arrival, Robert Barthol, acting captain of Engine 8, reported smoke coming from the first and second-floor windows of only the Brine building. Barthol and Fire Fighter Bill Peltier donned SCBA and entered through the front door with a l’/2-inch preconnect line. Barthol said he saw no fire, but remarked it was so hot they soon backed out.
Engine 7 arrived with four men at 7:25 and laid a 4-inch feeder line from a corner hydrant to Engine 8. Chial, who arrived from home right behind Engine 7, saw the smoke in front of Brine’s. A citizen also told him there was fire at the rear. Chial ordered Engine 7 to the back of Brine’s and put in a mutual-aid call at 7:32 for the Bayport Fire Department, which responded with nine fire fighters and a pumper.
While the Engine 8 crew entered the front of Brine’s again, and Ladder 2 (100-foot aerial) set up in front on arrival, Chial went to the rear of Brine’s to assist Engine 7. Meanwhile, Engine 4 connected to a corner hydrant upon arrival and laid a 4-inch feeder line to Engine 7.
Fire was evident inside the rear door of Brine’s, especially around the meat cooler. Chial helped the Engine 7 crew enter and knock down the fire with a 1 ⅛ -inch line.
“It went out quickly, but we were aware that heat from the fire apparently already had spread from above the cooler through the weak mortar of that old bricked window and into the stud wall of the remodeled clothing store,” Chial explained.
“By 8:15, we were making good headway on the fire that involved all three floors of the Brine building,” he continued. “This was when we first observed smoke in the clothing store, but inside we saw no fire.
The smoke increased, and at 8:30 Chial asked for additional mutual-aid response from the Lake Elmo and Mahtomedi Fire Departments, which were delayed arriving by about 10 minutes because of the heavy snow.
Decided to ventilate
There were no doors or windows on the clothing store that could be used for horizontal ventilation, Chial stated, so a decision was made to ventilate the smoke and heat from the roof so it would be possible to locate the seat of the fire.
Chial and Captain Kevin Charlsen went to the roof over the two-story wood-frame addition to the clothing store. Chial indicated where a hole was to be made and that the proper saw from the Stillwater rescue truck should be used.
“At that time, I detected no evidence of the roof being weak or spongy,” said Chial, who then returned to the ground.
With the assistance of volunteer Captain Bruce Raeburn and Fire Fighter Robert Hays, both of the Mahtomedi Fire Department, Charlsen cleared away a foot of snow and used the power saw to cut the hole. The blade wasn’t deep enough to go all the way through, so they decided to knock it in with an ax.
On the first blow . . .
On the first blow the entire roof collapsed, and the three fire fighters fell about 12 feet into a pile of burning debris on the second floor. In the next few minutes Raeburn, 35, and Hays, 44, died.
Charlsen, 34, was pinned but remained conscious as the flames around him leaped high into the snow-filled sky. At first, he panicked and screamed, thinking he was about to die. Quickly, though, he recalled from his fire training that survival depends on staying calm.
He remembered that air hugs the floor in a fire, so he put his face down. It seemed strange, he recalled later, “like lying on the floor of a furnace.” But it worked. There was air for him to breathe.
Charlsen pulled up the collar of his turnout coat and lowered the protective flaps of his new helmet. In doing so, he felt snow and reached out several times to pull handfulls of it around his head for added protection from the heat.
Five minutes passed. Fifteen minutes. Thirty minutes. Charlsen could feel his right leg burning. It was caught in the heavy debris. The thought of burning limb by limb crossed his mind, but he didn’t give up.
Water reaches Charlsen
More time passed. Finally, he felt a few drops of water hit his face. Then a few more drops as determined colleagues fought their way inside with fire hoses. Suddenly, the water stopped as the rescuers turned in another direction.
The smoke was so thick it was impossible to see. A moment later, Charlsen was hit with a heavy spray of water. Even though his leg was pinned, he rose to his knees and yelled.
Miraculously, he was rescued—1 hour and 13 minutes after the roof collapsed. Charlsen was rushed to Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater, where it was determined that he had second and thirddegree burns over 31 percent of his Ixxly. He was quickly transferred to the regional burn unit at St. Paul Ramsey Medical Center, where a difficult but remarkable recovery occurred in the succeeding weeks and months.
When the rear roof collapsed, the front windows of the clothing store blew out, the ceiling fell in and the entire building erupted in flames, hampering rescue efforts.
In addition, flames and heat from the clothing store fire were sucked back into the third floor of the Brine building through another old window that had been boarded up in a previous remodeling. Fire developed again briefly in the upper part of the Brine structure.
During the rescue operation, Barthol and Captain Tim Bell, both of the Stillwater Fire Department, sustained injuries and were taken to Lakeville Hospital for treatment.
At 11:30 p.m., the fire was under control. But exhausted by the ordeal, Chial said it seemed more like 4:30 a.m.
A lesson
The major lesson of this fire, he believes, should be of value to fire departments in communities throughout the country where hundreds of old residential and commercial buildings are being remodeled and restored.
“The lesson is that fire department must become familiar with this reconstruction work—old and new—and the fire fighting problems it can create,” Chial said.
When unusual situations exist, he concluded, a means of ventilating the building should be provided as a part of the remodeling project.
