Two died as heroes: Believed someone was trapped by fire

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/local_n...044333,00.html Two died as heroes: Believed someone was trapped by fire

By Chris Conley
conley@gomemphis.com
June 17, 2003

Two firefighters died braving fire and smoke in a three-alarm fire at a Frayser business, believing they were going in to save trapped civilians, fire officials said Monday.

However, reports that people were inside the burning Family Dollar store at 3732 Watkins proved untrue.

As both experienced firefighters searched for victims Sunday night, a portion of the roof collapsed, trapping them.

Lt. Trent Kirk, an 11-year Fire Department veteran, died inside the store after urging other firefighters to retreat.

It was several hours after the collapse that a rescue team knocked a hole in the north wall of the building to pull him out.

Firefighter Charles Zachary, a 19-year veteran, was pulled from the blaze after 15 minutes, Fire Director Chester Anderson said. He died of his injuries early Monday.

A third firefighter, identified as Timothy Scott, was treated and released for injuries Sunday night.

"There was nothing any individual firefighter could have done," Anderson said.

The 911 calls to the Fire Department "reported a possible rescue situation," Anderson said. "The reason they went in . . . was that possibly there was someone in the building," he said.

The two fallen firefighters were among the first to arrive at the fire about 7:45 p.m. and formed a team of several that went inside to search for victims, Anderson said. They were not search and rescue specialists.

Because the back entrances were barred, the firefighters had to attack from the front. The team made its way to the back of the store, where they encountered intense heat, Deputy Director Claude Talford said.

They were able to beat back the fire and Kirk advised the other firefighters to get out.

But as parts of the roof started to fall the firefighters apparently became disoriented. Everyone got out except Kirk and Zachary.

It's unclear how firefighters were able to rescue Zachary. But they were unable to explore the store in search of Kirk because of its unstable nature.

"We could not take a chance of anyone else getting maimed or killed," Talford said.

"The roof had collapsed. Personnel were trapped. There was a lot of fire inside," said Talford.

A Fire Department investigation into the cause and origin of the fire began Monday.

This morning, they will be joined by investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, OSHA, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and other agencies.

Memphis ATF agent in charge Gene Marquez said his agency was bringing in its top investigators.

The one-story flat roof building held various sorts of flammables, including clothes and aerosol products, officials said.

In addition to conducting witness interviews, investigators will be looking for signs of an accelerant.

Investigators will also be reviewing dispatch tapes to see why the firefighters believed someone was trapped in the building when they arrived.

In a press conference Monday, Anderson said the losses left firefighters across the city shaken. Some were allowed to go home Sunday night and counseling sessions were held Monday.

It was particularly hard for "the ones that work with them every day, and know their wives and children," Anderson said.

Firefighters felt "emptiness," he said. "They have lost one of their own."

The business opened in 1998 and passed all electrical, mechanical, building and plumbing inspections, said Allen Medlock of the Memphis and Shelby County Construction Code Enforcement office.

He said the building likely had a metal truss roof construction, which warps and collapses under high heat.

Though they are legal, he said, "there are better types of construction."

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/local_n...044639,00.html They were 2 typical firefighters
Zachary was 'always life of the party'

By Tracy Adams
adams@gomemphis.com
June 17, 2003

He was a typical firefighter - tall and brawny with an anytime-anyplace-any-job attitude.

But Pvt. Charles Arnold Zachary of Station 31 wasn't just a typical firefighter.

Zachary was a man whose personality was "over the top," his brother says, who loved to play a good prank and who cooked a mean batch of Hamburger Helper.

Chuck, as his friends called him, wore a permanent grin.

"Chuck would put on a show when we (the family) got together, he was always the life of the party," said his mother, Nancy Zachary.

His wife, Frances, said her husband was a fun-loving practical joker who enjoyed cooking.

At home, Zachary often cooked Hamburger Helper, his favorite meal. He would add his own special ingredients "to give it a little kick," she said.

At the firehouse, Zachary didn't make the traditional three-alarm chili.

"He would make Rice Krispie treats for (fire chief) Stewart," she said. "That's the kind of guy he was, anything to put a smile on your face."

Of all the pranks Zachary played on fellow firefighters during his 19-year career, his wife said the "Kool-Aid one" stands out the most.

In what must have been a career-best prank, Zachary poured red Kool-Aid mix into the boots of a firefighter nicknamed Rip.

Then as Engine 31 was called to a fire, the firefighters all rushed to get their gear on and left for the fire.

When they returned and undressed, Rip discovered that his feet were "beet-red."

"I think his feet were red for two months," she said. "Chuck really loved that one."

From then on, she said, every time Zachary saw Rip, he asked about his red feet.

Besides his generous sense of humor, Zachary was also a gentle and loving family man, his brother said.

"If you were his friend he would lay it on the line for you," said William Zachary. "He had tons of friends and he loved being with his friends."

Zachary put his abundant energy into being a firefighter.

"Every effort he had went into the Fire Department," his mother said. "He lived it . . . ate it. He put his heart and soul into being a firefighter."

Zachary was an adoring husband and father, his wife said.

Late Sunday night and early Monday morning, before Zachary succumbed to his injuries, fellow firefighters crowded his hospital room and kept family members laughing with one funny Zachary prank story after another.

But beyond his silly side, there was a sweet man.

"I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him when he gave me a little bitty ceramic bear," said his wife, who keeps it on her desk. "Chuck came across as a real hard-nosed guy, but he was really just a big ol' teddy bear . . . he was the sweetest guy and a better father than I could ever dream."

Zachary had two stepchildren, Sabrina, 25, and D. J., 21. His children never thought of Zachary as their stepfather, his wife said.

"When he married me he took on my kids and loved them just like they were his," she said. "He protected them and defended them and just loved them better than I had hoped."

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/local_n...044584,00.html Kirk's family comforted in knowing that he died doing what he loved
By Laura Coleman Noeth
noeth@gomemphis.com
June 17, 2003

In an hour's time on Saturday, twins Brent and Trent Kirk leaned against Trent's fire-engine red pickup and had their last significant conversation.

But for an hour's time on Sunday, they might have had the promise of many more.

About an hour before Trent Kirk was due to get off from his overtime shift and go home to spend what was left of Father's Day with his family, the station got the kind of call that made Kirk want to be a firefighter: possible rescue, lots of flames.

A chance to save a life, a chance to comfort a victim.

On Monday, the comfort to the Kirk family came in knowing that Lt. Trent Kirk, 39, died doing what he loved, what he felt called to do.

"It was his dream since high school to be a fireman," said Brent Kirk. "He enjoyed helping people. He wasn't just interested in saving lives, he wanted to be there to help people when they were totally helpless."

Doug Owens was on his way to Arkansas Monday when he heard a news report that Kirk, who he supervised several years ago at Georgia-Pacific Corp., was one of the firefighters killed. In his car, he prayed.

"I just talked to God about it, I put it in His hands," said Owens, who described Kirk's work ethic as "superior."

It was while Kirk and longtime friend Jimbo Townsend worked at Georgia-Pacific that both decided to fulfill goals. One went to college, the other to the Fire Department, where he quickly advanced to driver, then to lieutenant. Townsend, who lives near Dallas, will be here for Kirk's funeral Thursday.

It was during those years that the two of them went out one night and Kirk met his wife, Donna. Kirk later was in Townsend's wedding.

On Monday, whether it was in the half-staff flags at fire stations throughout the county or on Kirk's Bartlett street, the mourning had begun. While Donna Kirk was away making funeral arrangements, other firefighters' wives were answering the phone or bringing food.

The familiar sound of splashing in the Kirk pool behind Julie Haugen's house wasn't there Monday.

Haugen was the babysitter for the Kirks' daughters, Hope, 14, and Charity, 8.

"Oh, it's just like your heart sinks into your stomach," said Haugen. "You hear about firemen getting killed, but when it's someone you know, you can't believe it's happening."

Haugen remembered all the times that Kirk dropped his daughters off with "a big squeeze hug and kiss" and picked them up with promises of trips to the ice cream store or park.

"Those girls had him wrapped around their fingers," Haugen said.

In Raleigh, Brent Kirk, with his younger brother Dennis, spent the day at the home of their mother, Betty Kirk.

They talked of a brother who excelled in sports, one who played basketball all four years at Raleigh-Egypt High and who participated in firefighters' athletic competitions.

"He picked up any sport really quickly," said Dennis Kirk, 37. "We'd get a Ping-Pong game and he'd whoop us in a day or two."

On Saturday, the three were among 100 or so family members at a family reunion at Natchez Trace State Park east of Jackson, Tenn.

It was there where Trent Kirk was kidded about having a pickup the size of a firetruck, where he and his twin brother had one of those ordinary conversations that become extraordinary because they're between twins.

"It was just me and him," Brent said. "Being twins, we had a special bond. We talked about all the good old times, how good it was to have everyone there."

Kirk's funeral should be a proper service for someone who gave his life for others, the surviving twin said.

"He really deserves that, since he died for other people. I think he deserves the highest honors they could bestow on him. He wanted to be a fireman, he wanted to help people and he died trying to help people."

And yes, his brother said, he was a hero, though that wasn't what Trent Kirk set out to be.

"Trent was just a normal human being who had a job he loved doing. He loved his family and he loved his job. He was living the American dream, so to speak.

"He didn't set out to be a hero, though he'd done some heroic acts. But it was not his goal to be a hero. It was his goal to serve his fellow man."


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[39mto39g]

Every day I get a report put out by National firefighters Association about firefighter fatalities. Its a dangerous job.
We have rescue proceedures built into out commercial fire attack plan. So we wouldn't do anything different in a commercial fire with or without "people inside"
The ones I hate are the women that associate there pet animals as there childeren.
We had a house fire where this laddy came running up to me saying that here babies were inside. I started in with two firefighters on a building that had fire comming from all its windows when a fire fighter came up and said the babies were her dogs. We didn't go in. About 1 min after that the roof fell in. Im real sorry this lady lost her dogs, but you don't risk a human life to save an animal. I would have had to eplain to those to guys wifes why they died cause I ain't dieing in no house fire.

Ron

[Keith_Hixson]

I remember going into a resturant with my crew. Just stepped through the door and the roof caved in. As I was leading the crew no one got hurt. A big 6 x 6 timber just missed me. I backed out and told the Chief, its toooo dangerous. He agreed. Fortunately no bodies found when we cleaned up the next day.

It happened so quickly didn't have time to be afraid. That was back in the early eighties.

My Prayers Go out to the Familes of these brave men.


Ron, we had a call come in for the Medic Unit. "My baby is dying." It was a little puppy with with a "blue heart" from a puppy mill. We pretended to give it CPR and did a good job of PR. People really get attached to their animals. But, I agree with you Ron, risking Human life for a dog isn't worth it, especially in a major fire situation. Since I was the lead Medic on the Call, boy did I get harassed about giving mouth to mouth to a dog.

Keith

[philly]

Very sad story. I could only imagine how helpless they must have felt when they couldn't go in after their men.

I love the cool aid prank. I'm sure if I told my boys that one, they'd find a way to perform it on one of their buddies.

My thoughts and prayers go out to their families and coworkers.

[39mto39g]

We get calls for us to get a cat out of a tree still. I refur them to animal control. The taxpayers paid $750,000 for the vehicle I ride around in, We are all EMTs and one Paramedic, I am Haz Mat Tec, Aircraft Rescue Tec, Advanced Fire fighter certification, All this the city probibly paid around $100,000,
And now this citizen wants us to take My crew and vehicle off line and out of service to get a cat out of a tree, because she seen that firemen do this in some childs book, I think not.

The strangest call I ever hear was a lady called up and asked to come to her house because a squirel was up in a tree and couldn't get down, the sad thing about this story is that, its true.

One of our other station officers got in trouble with the mayor about what he said to a lady.
She said , you got anything to get a cat out of a tree, and the officer said, yea, a 12 gage,
She was friends with the mayor. So the mayor comes by the station and starts bitchin out the officer and the officer let him talk, when the mayor was done the officer just told him , your here for two years and Im here for 20 years,
We have had several mayors sence that day and still have the officer.

Ron