Charleston, S.C. Mayor Joseph Riley Jr. released the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health draft report on the June 18, 2007, fire at a sofa furniture store where nine firefighters died.

In his letter of introduction to the 55-page draft report, Riley said that releasing such drafts was not common, but "because of the understandable immense interest in the Sofa Super Store fire that it is very important that everyone be aware even of this draft document so that this process is public and transparent."

City officials and International Association of Fire Fighter officials will have until June 10 to comment on the report. After NIOSH receives those comments, it will draft a final report.

This report precedes a much-anticipated report from a task force of industry experts hired by the city shortly after the fire. The task force's first report identified more than 200 recommended improvement the CFD needed to adopt. That report broke out those recommendations in three priority categories ranging from immediate to long range. The second report is due out May 15.

The NIOSH draft report can be downloaded in pdf format at http://static.wciv.com/niosh.pdf