Fire Mysteries - Story One

It all began at 03:20 AM for me; I was awakened by the private line pager from my place of work. I am an Arson/Fire Investigator for a large Fire Department in Michigan. I phoned the dispatcher identified myself and to see where I was needed at this time of the morning. I was directed to go to an apartment building in a neighborhood that is known for being run down but in the process of rebuilding. I stopped at the coffee shop on the way because I knew it would be a long day.

When I arrived at the location, the first in Captain was waiting for me to give me an update on their time of call out and arrival. He also gave me the area where it seemed to the first in crew that the fire had begun in a basement apartment. I wrote down in my notebook all of the information for later on in my investigation and report. I requested from dispatch that the duty Fire Inspector be sent to this location.

I started to put on my bunker gear, helmet and boots while I waited for the Inspector to arrive, this building and fire weren't going anywhere so what was the hurry. I unloaded my camera for pictures as we were going to go through this building slowly. It is an old building built around the year 1930, brick construction that was 6 stories high and covered about 1/2 of the block that it sat on. The duty Inspector had arrived after I did a preliminary walk around the outside of the building to make sure that the utilities had been turned off. It wouldn't be good if a hidden hot spot ignited the natural gas for the building or that we might step on a live wire in the building during our investigation.

It is now 04:30 AM and we are going to enter the building to begin looking for the exact area that the fire started. We are wearing filtered respirators because of the ash and lingering smoke in the air. Casey the Inspector and I are going down the basement stairs and see that there are 3 apartments that have been built in the basement and Casey sys " these haven't had the plans for remodeling sent to our office for approval". "I'll worry about that later" was my reply to him, Inspectors are more of paper pushers than the rest of the department, and they work 0800 to 1600 Monday through Friday with the weekends off. The rest of us work a 24 hour day on with a 24 hour day off then back to the grind for another 24 hours before we get 2 days off.

We are going into the first apartment and being a by the book person decided to use the sniffer that we carry. The sniffer can detect accelerants like gasoline or naphtha used to start fires. I got a weak reading for lighter fluid in the area of the remains of what was once a bed. I looked around the rest of the apartment and didn't notice anything unusual outside of the alligator charring on one wall near the bed. Alligator charring is just what it sounds like, the skin on an Alligator. Casey and I are headed to the room next to this one, the door is closed so my assumption is that either the fire crew didn't open it or no one lives here. Wrong, when we get the door open we discover a body lying near the door and do a quick check of the rest of the apartment. I am calling dispatch on the handheld radios we use and announce "1K" (meaning 1 dead) and ask for the Medical Examiner to be dispatched to this location ASAP.

Casey has gone ahead to the third apartment and yells, "Sam we,ve got another one in here too". "Casey let's get back outside and wait for the M.E. to arrive". Now while we are outside I call dispatch on my mobile phone to tell her that we need to add to the 1K and to start another timeline in the book for this fire call. When another timeline is called for according to the department Standard Operating Procedures a dispatcher is assigned to this call and this call only. I also requested that the first in Captain and engine crew be sent back to this location, he isn't going to be happy about that, but that's his problem not mine.

The M.E. arrived about 2 minutes before the Captain and his crew. I had decided to wait for all of the people to arrive before I started to explain why they were called, better to say it one time instead of two times. The M.E. and I have worked together for almost 12 years on quite a few cases that were fatal fires, little did we know that this would be the worst one we have seen. Now that all of the personnel were here I decided to ask the fire crew why they didn't check the other basement apartments. The Captain Nick Forrest decided to go off on me about they didn't have the time because of another call that needed assistance. I will explain why I didn't slap him right then, he is a new Captain only had the position for 1 month. It is still a lame excuse, an experienced firefighter but he is still green at operations. The Sergeant in his crew said "I was told those rooms were for storage only and that is why we didn't check them". My face must have turned 3 shades of red because everyone was backing up away from me; I have been known to go off on people when they don't do their job correctly.

"Who told you that"? was my first question after I cooled down. "The guy who owns the building" was the answer I got back. "Where is he now"? next question from a cool head "and get him here now"! "I've got 2 dead people and we just started in the basement and we still have 6 more stories of building to check". I took Nick aside and explained operational responsibility to him in a calm manner, and apologized for almost going nuts on him in fron of his crew. I asked him to "Let your reliefs know that their responsibility is to be here after they assume the duty, to assist us". It is now 0600 AM and the shift ends for them at 0700 AM so it is time for them to go back to the station and wait for their relief. I proceeded to have the Assistant M.E. go and get some breakfast for us ande to bring it back quickly. At 0630 AM the Chief of the Department arrived along with the Chief Inspector and asked "Do you have everything that you need"? I explained the events of the early morning hours and gently told him of the first crew's mistake, but that the building owner had given them the wrong information. Casey was briefing his boss on how there were 3 apartments in the basement and that the permits and plans had not been submitted for approval.

I let my boss the Chief of the Department know how we were going to proceed once the additional personnal arrived and asked if a new dispatcher could take over the timeline that had been started. "No problem and whatever else you need don't hesitate to ask for it" was his reply. The Chief and I went to the Fire Academy together a long time ago and watched each other's children grow up. My wife when she was alive and I were very close to Chief Fred Davis and his wife. Since my wife has passed on I have lived alone, both of my boys are on their own and visit the "old man" occasionally.

The station crew has arrived and Casey, Fritz and I have eaten our breakfast from McDonald's also had 2 coffees. I have already explained about the 2 bodies in the basement and that this will be a methodical search of the building. I am taking 2 firefighters and Casey is going to take 2 with him, we will be using a private line handheld radio to communicate. The use of the private line means that no one outside of this group other than the Chief can hear what is being relayed. There are 4 apartments on each floor so that means that we will have to check 24 apartments before we are done. The M.E. has taken the 2 bodies from the basement back to the Morgue to start the autopsies. I decided that I would take the first floor letting Casey take the second floor and I reminded all personnel that it will be a long day for us. We had to pry the door of the first apartment and I find another body in bed, the person looked like she was sleeping. "Casey I've got another one in here, have you found anything up there"? "I've got 2 and they are in bed" was his response. I sent a firefighter out to phone the M.E. and to tell him we have 3 more and to wait on the autopsies. In about 5 minutes my cell phone was ringing, it was Fritz. "What the hell do you mean to wait on the autopsies"! that was what I heard first, I proceeded to explain that we had 3 more bodies and that was why. "Oh I wasn't given that information, just to stop the autopsies". "Look Fritz you know I never tell you to stop unless I have a real good reason, we have only checked 2 more apartments and have 3 more for you".

We have completed the building check and have found a total of 11 bodies, remember this occurred in the early morning hours and people were sleeping. The building did not meet the current Fire Codes as Casey explained "there isn't a damn smoke detector anywhere in this building that worked". The owner of the building finally showed up after we sent the Police to get him, "a real piece of work this guy, in some areas he would be called a Slum Lord". Casey being the level headed one decided to go nuts on the owner and almost gave the owner a Heart Attack. I proceeded to ask the owner for a list of the tenants names living in his building and he asked "Do you have a Warrant"? I am niot a very nice person when people are dead and I have to deal with morons, so I said "No wise ass, but I can get one while you sit in jail". Now needless to say smart people know that I can't have him jailed for this but, he isn't real smart. "I don't have it with me but I can go get it".

I have briefed the Chief on our findings and my next plan of action, it is now 1530 PM and I'm tired. I get grumpy when I'm tired and people who have worked with me before know to stay away from me. I have called Fritz and we will begin the autopsies tomorrow morning at 0800 AM, I will sit through each autopsy while Fritz does the work. I have to know if the people died because of the fire or due to other means. I am going home and shower, try to eat and look at the pictures we took in each apartment. It is now 1830 PM and I am in my living room drinking a Chang beer, I have acquired the taste for this beer when I visited Thailand. The phone is ringing and I do not want to answer it, this is my quiet time to reflect and to plan my upcoming day.

At 1900 PM a loud banging on my front door has me with gun in my hand headed for the door. I open it to find my boss standing there bug eyed looking at the gun in my hand, he has forgotten that as an Investigator I carry a gun. In the history of the Fire Department before we had investigators it was up to the Police to do the investigations, the Police not knowing about fire lost quite a few cases. I had pushed and shoved to get our Arson/Fire Investigators with the powers of arrest. The aforementioned meant we had to go through the Police Academy and they weren't happy about that. "Why didn't you answer your phone"? Fred asked. "I'm trying to unwind from today's fun and this is also my quiet time". "Ever since Addie died you are becoming a hermit living alone, you need to get out more". "Look Fred I am working the worst fatal fire I have seen in my career and I'm trying to find out why it happened"!

The next question from my boss and friend was from left field "do you want off of this one"? "No damn it, I want how or who caused this fire and why 11 people died". "OK what do you need from me"? "Nothing for now, but I might need a favor down the line". "How did Casey work out for you"? "He has a lot to learn, needs to stop pushing paper, get out in the field more and remember he is a firefighter". "Why did you come over here anyway"? "Alice was worried about you and kept asking if you were OK", when you didn't answer your phone she told me to get over here and check on you". "Well, while you're here want a beer"? "No thanks, I have a Brandy waiting at home with the wife, so I'll hit the road and tell her you are well". It is now 2000 PM and I have just finished my third beer and set my alarm for 0600 AM, now to bed and some sleep. A nightmare of dead people and fire was how I spent that night. A work still in progress.