“It is critical to us to understand whether or not that was functioning as it was designed,” he said. “We have no information, as of today, that there were issues with that standpipe system.”
Nearly 25 minutes passed from the time the companies left their stations about 1230 hours until Firefighters reported they had water on the fire. Firefighters, in a recording of their transmissions during the fire, repeatedly made references to a lack of water.
Captain Jeff Bowen, a 13-year veteran, died after exposure to heat and smoke in the arson fire.
Bowen, Captain of Rescue Company 301, was among the first firefighters to reach the medical office building and was conducting a primary search. The Captain reportedly transmitted a “mayday” over the radio after reaching the top floor and encountering the conditions. Additional personnel found him and Firefighter Jay Bettencourt on the third floor, all according to the media’s interpretation of radio transmission recordings.
Bettencourt was flown to a burn center in Georgia and later released and will be able to return to duty.
About 200 people were in the 150,000-square-foot medical office building when companies were dispatched.
Understandably, the AFD has declined to address the recording, other than to say it did not release it.
Chief Burnette on Friday said he has not yet listened to recordings but planned to. “I heard all of that live as it was happening,” he said. “A four-alarm fire with firefighter in a mayday situation, it sounded as I expect radio traffic to sound for that complex of an incident.”
The fire department requires building owners certify that standpipes are working properly. Owners typically hire companies to do the tests and prepare certified reports, Chief Burnette said. He said that he wasn’t sure of the status of the most recent standpipe certification at the building. The chief said there are three investigations into the fire that will answer many of the questions about what happened:
• Asheville-Buncombe Arson Task Force is leading a criminal homicide and arson investigation along with the State Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
• N.C. Department of Labor is doing a workplace safety investigation into Bowen’s death and injuries of 10 other firefighters. The agency could fine the city if it finds fire department policies were violated.
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health will look at every aspect of the fire, including how it was fought.
The NIOSH investigation will be the most thorough look at how the fire department fought the fire.
Chief Burnette said he understands people have questions about what happened. He said answering the questions isn’t as easy as listening to the radio traffic of the fire and offering his opinion.
“We want as much information as we can provide out to the community,” he said. “The community is hurting just as we are. The community is needing understanding just as much as we are to help start the healing process. “We want to be responsible to the community, and we want to be able to provide those answers, but what is most important is that as we fill that need of providing understanding, we want to make sure that it is accurate."
