The Charleston 9

A Brief Overview

There are so many lessons learned from Charleston, S.C. on June 18, 2007 where nine Charleston Firefighters were killed at the infamous Sofa Super Store fire. They are Captain Louis Mulkey, Captain Mike Benke, FF Melvin Champaign, Captain Billy Hutchingson, Engineer Brad Baity, FF Earl Drayton, Engineer Mark Kelsey, Engineer Michael French, and FF Brandon Thompson.

From the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, "Charleston 9: The Ultimate Sacrifice", looks at the dramatic changes made in the operations of South Carolina's Charleston Fire Department following the deaths of nine firefighters on June 18, 2007. The video, produced by STATter911 Communications and Greg Guise Media, focuses on how the leadership of the late Chief Tom Carr helped the department recover after such a devastating loss.

IN DEPTH VIDEO WITH NARRATION FROM NIST & IAFF:
(Perfect for company in quarters training)

INITIAL PHONE CALLS:

Here is the first hour of dispatch audio of the Charleston, South Carolina, Sofa Super Store fire, which killed nine firefighters on June 18, 2007.

Video from the scene

Research topic: Charleston Sofa Super Store Fire
This resource page allows you to browse our collection materials drawn from federal, state and local governments as well as non-governmental organizations, and professional and scholarly publications. Many of these resources are available online but not all.

Death in the Line of Duty A summary of a NIOSH fire fighter fatality investigation
On June 18, 2007, nine career fire fighters (all males, ages 27 – 56) died when they became disoriented and ran out of air in rapidly deteriorating conditions inside a burning commercial furniture showroom and warehouse facility.

FIREFIGHTER FATALITY INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
This report was prepared by the City of Charleston Post Incident Assessment and Review Team and represents a consensus view of the team.

SLIDE SHOW WITH NARRATION: