In the early morning hours of Wednesday, May 14, the six-member team of the Post-Incident Assessment and Review Team sat in the lobby of a hotel in downtown Charleston, S.C., preparing to print their Phase II report on the Sofa Super Store fire that claimed the lives of nine firefighters on June 18, 2007. The much-anticipated release of the report clearly weighed on the minds of all the members, particularly the principal architect and team leader J. Gordon Routley. At that moment, it was still unclear how the words on the nearly 300-page document would affect and be received by a community, fire department and family members of the fallen still healing and searching for answers, not to mention a national and international fire service audience.

The one thing that we all knew was that the report would have a significant and substantial affect on everyone with a vested interest in the lives of nine lost firefighters as well as the hundreds of thousands of firefighters still leaving for stations everyday and not knowing if they'll return home at the end of their shift.

Without question, anyone reading the report would have a reaction. As we sat in the hotel lobby, two members of the team disappeared through a side door that led to a car for a trip to an all-night printers. The hope that the team had done its very best was now out of our hands and would be left to the opinions of those for whom the report had been written — firefighters, the families who love them and the communities that they protect with their lives.

In the 16-hour days to follow, the team would meet with counselors, the families of the fallen firefighters, and members of the Charleston and Saint Andrew's fire departments, as well as local government officials and finally the media. Not only was the hard copy of the report delivered to these groups, but a two-hour PowerPoint program was used to convey the exact message the team had intended. The program was tailored to each assembly and included clear and easily understandable explanations of the findings, conclusions, analysis, and most importantly the recommendations and lessons learned.

I had great respect for Routley prior to my involvement with the Charleston fire-assessment team. But as I watched him — compassionate and with an unnerving degree of skill — weave his way through the intricate details of the incident during the presentations, calling all firefighters involved by not only their company designations but by their names, he eclipsed even his own prophetic shadow. Routely demonstrated to all present what we as a team already knew — that we weren't just professional consultants; we were firefighters and we carried deep care for the memory of the Charleston Nine, their families, and the fire department and community of Charleston.

In the end, whether the report is a success depends not on those with closed minds refusing to address the way they and other fire departments still operate, but rather by those who are willing a take the hard and sometime difficult look at themselves and admit change is needed. In Charleston, city officials and the brave firefighters have made a commitment to move forward and embrace the changes necessary to make their organization a world-class fire department. It will take time, but by facing the realities of June 18, they are headed in the right direction vowing to, “never forget and never again.”

It is the hope and sincere desire of the Charleston team — which also includes the incredibly talented Kevin Roche of Phoenix; Tim Sendelbach of Savannah, Ga.; Mike Chiaramonte of Lynbrook, N.Y.; and Peter Piringer of Montgomery County, Md. — that other fire departments make the critical changes in their own organizations to minimize the opportunity for a firefighter serious injury or death as a result of the Phase II report and not after they lose a firefighter needlessly.

God bless our Charleston brothers and the families of Engineer Bradford Rodney “Brad” Baity, Capt. Theodore Michael Benke, Firefighter Melvin Edward Champaign, Firefighter James “Earl” Allen Drayton, Engineer Michael Jonathon Alan French, Capt. William H. “Billy” Hutchinson III, Capt. Mark Wesley Kelsey, Capt. Louis Mark Mulkey, and Firefighter Brandon Kenyon Thompson. May they rest in peace.

The Charleston Post-Incident Assessment and Review Team will present its Phase II Sofa Super Store report at Fire-Rescue International in Denver in August. All fees associated with any delivery of this and any Charleston program presented by team members will be donated to the National Fallen Firefighter's Foundation in the name of the Charleston Nine.

Brian A. Crawford is an assistant chief and 23-year veteran of the Shreveport (La.) Fire Department. He also serves on the Charleston Post-Incident Assessment and Review Team. Crawford is a member of the IAFC Human Relations Committee and the FIRE CHIEF Editorial Advisory Board. He is a National Fire Academy resident instructor and Maryland Fire Rescue Institute staff and command faculty member, an NFA Executive Fire Officer Program graduate, and an IAEM-certified emergency manager. He is a 2006 recipient of the U.S. Fire Administration's Harvard Fellowship and graduate of the university's Kennedy School of Senior Executives in State and Local Government.