Chief Alan Brunacini of the Phoenix Fire Department used to talk to the building at the corner of 35th and McDowell every morning on his way to work in the Third Battalion. The structure would loom over at him while he was stopped at the light and quietly whisper to the waiting fire chief, “Someday I'm going to get you!” Brunacini would defiantly reply, “Oh no you're not, you'll never get us!”

On March 14, 2001, a delightfully warm late-winter afternoon, the building did indeed get Brunacini and the Phoenix Fire Department. Before the evening was over, firefighter Bret Tarver was dead and the department was reeling from the loss.

The facts about the fire are pretty straightforward. A trash fire at the rear of the Southwest Supermarket, a massive 20,000-square-foot l-shaped structure, quickly spread to the wooden-roof structure and then dropped down into the store's main selling area. Customers and employees occupied the store, which was open for business. When the fire department arrived, heavy smoke and fire was already visible.

By the time the first-due companies began their interior search, heavy smoke and heat filled the rear storage area. Though the main section of the store had only light smoke at the ceiling level, the crew from Tarver's Engine 14 encountered the heavy conditions while operating a hoseline in this rear room. Within minutes, Tarver's low-air alarm sounded from his SCBA cylinder. His company officer ordered the entire crew to leave the fire area. Unfortunately, the crew member lost contact with each other and split up on their way out of the building.

Tarver became disoriented and lost in the maze-like rear storage area, directly below where the fire first entered the structure. The other crew members somehow found their way outside as the fire rapidly spread and the entire open area of the market became fully involved. Tarver radioed for help numerous times.

Other companies quickly formed into rapid intervention crews in an effort to find and rescue Tarver. A crew followed a hoseline right to the area where he had last been seen and found the disoriented firefighter out of air, standing upright and looking for assistance. The first crew, and subsequent rescue teams, made contact with and found Tarver, but could not get him to follow their instructions and assist in his own rescue. He turned away from the crew and disappeared back toward the heaviest smoke. With fire all around them and conditions untenable while they were running out of air, this crew was forced to leave.

The brave crews operated under almost full fire involvement above and around them, but they would not give up until they brought Tarver out. Team after team went after Tarver. Even after he was unconscious, it was next to impossible to grab him and secure him and get him out of the building. By the time they did rescue him, it was too late to save his life.

Calling Tarver “Bart Simpson on steroids” at his funeral gave the rest of us an idea of the daunting task the interior RIC teams faced. Here was one of Phoenix's most fit and strong firefighters in an obviously hypoxic and disoriented state; mere mortal rescue teams were no match for this super-strong human.

Tarver's funeral celebrated his life, his love of his family and the fire service, and the dedicated efforts of hundreds of firefighters who tried to rescue him that tragic day. When Brunacini asked those who had been at the fire to stand at the memorial service, hundreds of firefighters from all over the valley stood to be honored. A lot of people tried to save Tarver that day.

Within hours of his funeral, the department began taking steps to make certain that this type of loss never again would occur. First, they organized a full walk-through tour of the remains of the structure for every fire department employee, from those who dispatch the calls to those who fix the apparatus and deliver the paper clips, with an explanation of how and where Tarver died.

Next the recovery committee began a year-long process to implement the steps to beef up fire suppression and prevent another similar tragedy. The report they produced and released on the anniversary of Tarver's death is thorough and complete, and provides a blueprint for response and training for these big box-type structure fires.

Among the many recommendations are some that fire administrators have been calling for for as long as there have been fire departments. The Phoenix Fire Department has a well-deserved nationwide reputation for innovation and command excellence. If this could happen to that department, it could happen to any department.

The department also rented a large vacant commercial structure to conduct RIC and rescue training exercises. As Brunacini wryly noted, the fire service is really well trained to handle any type of fire in a 20- by 40-foot concrete structure, because that's the size and dimension of the average department drill building. How often do we actually drill in the type of buildings where we face our highest-risk firefighting operations?

These drills amazed even seasoned Phoenix veterans. They realized just how dangerous interior firefighting at these large structures really can be. Just drilling on these buildings without actual fire conditions was enough to bring home the seriousness of these situations. Is your department prepared to fight fire in the large open structures that have been built in your community?

The balance of the recommendations are the result of a full analysis of the factors that led to the death of a brave firefighter. The committee reviewed every aspect of the department's operations and made a number of forceful changes. These included classes in air management for both individuals and complete crews, increases in deployment and resources to the scene of a major incident, re-evaluation of firefighting philosophy and strategy, and many other operational, rescue, safety and tactical modes.

If you would like to review a copy of the report, contact me at <<a href="mailto:glenn@commandschool.com" target="_blank">glenn@commandschool.com> and I'll send you the complete report.

The report states, “This was a bad-ass fire in a bad-ass building.” These buildings kill firefighters, and we must all be extremely vigilant to not let our guard down and to provide the highest level of command to protect our firefighters. Bret Tarver died, trapped and lost in a huge burning store, but from his death we can all learn how to prevent this from ever occurring again.

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Glenn D. Usdin is chief of the Lancaster Township (Pa.) Fire Department and the founder of Command School Inc., which is co-sponsored by the International Association of Fire Chiefs and Fire Chief. Usdin is also the founder and former president of Northeast Fire Apparatus.