PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It's been two months since Philadelphia Fire Lt. Sean Williamson was killed in the line of duty. On June 18, a building in Fairhill collapsed, shortly after a fire there had been brought under control, killing Williamson and wounding others.
Federal authorities have since ruled that fire an arson and announced charges against the owner of a pizza shop in that building. Investigations into the incident are ongoing.
Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel and Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy joined KYW Newsradio to discuss the aftermath of that tragedy.
“A few months is not a long time for processing a loss like this,” Thiel said. “So, it's been a difficult several months. And I know a lot of our members are still working through their feelings, and I think we are as well.”
'The community expectation for us is very clear'
Thiel said the Philadelphia Fire Department faces some significant challenges fighting fires in the city. Firefighters are duty-bound to enter every building they are called to, but he said the department does not control — and has very limited influence over — the conditions of those buildings.
“Leaving the funeral after the [Jan. 5] Fairmount fire, I had a community member pull me aside and say that we should have saved that family. Believe me — we all get into this to save lives. We don't control how buildings are maintained.”
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Neither do they have any regulatory authority.
“I was just walking around Center City yesterday, when I went to a restaurant and I tried to leave through the emergency exit — and it was locked,” Thiel said. “It was chained shut."
When firefighters are dispatched, they are told if a building is unsafe, Thiel said — but the challenge is, because of the age and variety of Philadelphia’s building stock, there are a lot of unsafe buildings.
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“We have a truly unique building stock, with everything from the latest, greatest highrises to — I think the Rittenhouse Mill was built in the late 1600s. We have to protect all of it. And that is an extremely resource-intensive and difficult task,” Thiel said.
And the commissioner says his department — one of the busiest fire departments in the nation and, unfortunately, with one of the highest fire death rates in the nation — is up to that challenge.
“The community expectation for us is very clear: Folks expect us to go in and try to save lives and protect property.
“We also know that, in this city, a lot of folks, everything they have is inside that home. … There are other places where you can assume people have insurance. That's not the case here in Philadelphia, as has been demonstrated tragically over and over and over.”
Thiel said he was recently walking around the neighborhood where Williamson died, and people stopped him to tell him to give him and the rest of the department their condolences.
“That means a lot to us,” he asid.
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Thiel said he also credits the community for their help in the investigation.
“Without the neighbors assisting,” he said, “we would not have been able to catch that suspected arsonist as quickly as we did.”
He wasn’t able to say much more about the investigation because there is an ongoing National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) investigation, which itself will take at least a year — as well as the department’s own internal review.
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'Trained firefighters, protecting life'
Several Fire Department training programs have emerged after deaths in the line of duty, and the commissioner says that will continue. Deputy Commissioner Murphy explained how firefighters are trained for situations like the Fairhill fire, and why they have to do a primary and secondary search if there are people reported to be inside.
“Really, probably, our main focus is trained firefighters, is protecting life,” Murphy said. “We are … an aggressive interior firefighting department, as long as it's safely done. And the mindset when we train our cadets is: Safely get in there to see the fire. Put it out. And then you lessen the effect of the fire on whatever building that you're in.”
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Murphy said every cadet goes through a nine-month course and gets trained to the highest standards in the United States.
“We want to make sure that everybody is trained at the highest level, to be able to not only make entry into these buildings, but to be smart enough to know when not to — or to only do so when it's safe. But [what] the public may not understand is that's how we get to you. That's how we get to someone trapped inside,” Murphy said.
Despite anything else, Thiel said, “Our firefighters absolutely risk their lives to save the lives of others.” But, he added, everyone can help save lives.
“We really need folks to take responsibility for ensuring their own living environment is safe,” he said. “It's really important for me to remind folks, as we say, that fire is everyone's fight. This is not something that the Fire Department can do alone.”
Thiel said he wants residents, businesses and visitors to embrace fire safety as part of what they do by planning an escape route and by having working smoke alarms on every level of the building. Residents can call 311 to get a free smoke alarm for their home.
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