`Willful Violations' In Fire Death -- State Fines Seattle For Failing To Protect Firefighters

The Seattle Fire Department has shown a pattern of failing to protect its crews at fires, state officials said in slapping the department with a $102,400 fine for the death of a firefighter last September.

The fine, levied yesterday by the Department of Labor and Industries, is the maximum allowed on two of the three violations cited and is the second-largest ever in the state.

State investigators said the Sept. 9 death of Lt. Matthew Johnson was preventable had the Fire Department taken the proper safety steps - steps similar to those recommended two years ago after the death of another Seattle firefighter.

Johnson died while fighting an arson at the vacant Blackstock Lumber Co. building on Seattle's waterfront. The state has been investigating the case ever since.

Labor and Industries spokeswoman Barbara Dunn said the heavy fine was imposed this time because investigators believed the Fire Department had an ``ongoing problem'' of not being able to account for its crews at fire scenes. Said Dunn: ``We looked at the past record, and in doing so we were able to see a pattern.''

Two years ago, the same state agency fined the Fire Department on much the same grounds, saying the department had failed to protect Robert Earhart, who died July 12, 1987, fighting an arson at the vacant Crest Apartments near downtown.

After learning of the state's ruling yesterday, Earhart's widow, Marcia, said she was ``really upset that things didn't change after my husband died. They really haven't changed anything. I'm not surprised they were cited for the same thing.''

The fine levied against the Fire Department is the highest municipal fine ever issued by Labor and Industries. Only The Boeing Co. has been hit with a stiffer fine, for $128,780 five months ago.

State officials met separately yesterday with Fire Chief Claude Harris and his administrative staff and with firefighters union representatives before announcing the findings.

Specifically, the department was cited for two ``serious, willful'' violations, each of which drew the maximum penalty of $50,000:

-- Fire Department commanders ``failed to initiate a prompt search and rescue for'' Johnson and his partner, William Meredith, who eventually escaped the blaze.

-- Department officials failed to ``use appropri-

ate safeguards necessary to protect the lives and safety'' of its firefighters.

The state said ``firefighters were not accounted for inside'' the burning building and that ``necessary radio communications monitoring equipment and personnel were not present.''

The state levied a $2,400 fine for a third violation - failing to have provided training for firefighters on the self-contained breathing devices issued to them at the Blackstock fire.

Melvin James, Labor and Industries regional administrator, said the air bottles given the two off-duty firefighters called to the fire did not fit the masks they were given. If the men had attempted to use the air bottles, all ``the air in the bottles would have been depleted instantly,'' James said.

``It is pretty obvious they have not adopted a monitoring system,'' and that they need to get one, because Johnson's death could have been avoided, James said.

In citing the Fire Department for failing to keep track of its firefighters, the state pointed out that if the proper radio equipment had been used at the Blackstock fire, it could have saved Johnson's life.

Johnson and Meredith were among the first firefighters on the scene last fall after the blaze was reported at 9:21 p.m. After becoming disoriented in the smoke-filled warehouse, Johnson and Meredith spent about 20 minutes calling for help on Johnson's hand-held radio. In West Seattle, firefighters at Station 32 and a retired Fire Department worker listening to a scanner at home heard the calls, but the transmissions were not heard at the alarm center or by anyone at the scene.

The crew at Station 32 noted hearing the distress call at 9:57 p.m., and assumed that it was heard at the scene.

Labor and Industries officials indicated yesterday that the Fire Department should have had the equipment and personnel at the fire scene to monitor all radio frequencies, not just the main frequency used at the fire.

At about 10:15 p.m., a firefighter found Meredith, staggering, incoherent and unable to say that Johnson was still inside.

A full search for Johnson was not started until almost two hours later, even though some firefighters say they told department commanders they feared Johnson might be missing.

Johnson, 32, was not found until 1:34 in the morning. He had died of smoke inhalation.

Within days of the blaze the Fire Department came under heavy criticism - much of it from within - for its handling of the fire. Critics then pointed to the same problems cited by the state yesterday but also raised deep concerns that were not addressed by Labor and Industries. Among the most serious concerns:

-- The Fire Department had no clear-cut policy on when firefighters should enter a burning vacant building. Both the Blackstock warehouse and the Crest Apartments were empty when Johnson and Earhart died fighting those blazes.

-- A report by the Fire Department itself indicated that firefighters battled the Blackstock blaze from inside and outside the building at the same time. The firefighters on the outside, according to national experts, could have driven the fire onto Johnson and Meredith inside. The National Fire Protection Association manual says that the tactics are meant to be used separately, ``to keep firefighters from killing each other.''

-- Firefighters in the Seattle department also said they had not been adequately trained on a new system for deploying and directing crews at fires, and that the lack of training on the ``incident command system'' may have contributed to the general confusion and disorganization at Blackstock.

-- The department had no organized plan on how to search for a missing firefighter. While the state yesterday fined the department for taking too long to begin searching for Johnson, it did not address the policy issue.

James said Labor and Industries investigators did not address questions of whether the building should have been entered or how the fire was fought because ``we are not in the business of telling them how to fight a fire.''

A spokesman for Seattle Mayor Norm Rice said Rice wants the state investigators' conclusions examined during a comprehensive management study of the Fire Department. Rice and City Councilwoman Jane Noland called for the study a week ago, saying the continuing criticisms needed to be examined.

Rice's spokesman said the mayor does not necessarily agree or disagree with the state findings in the Blackstock case, and he indicated the Fire Department may argue strongly against the findings in an expected appeal.

The department has 15 days to accept the ruling, ask Labor and Industries to review its decision or appeal it to the Board of Industrial Appeals. It can also seek further appeals through King County Superior Court. A department appeal in the Earhart case has gone to court, and officials are awaiting a decision.

The department is also awaiting the results of an investigative report that it asked the National Fire Protection Association to prepare on Matthew Johnson's death in the Blackstock fire.

Told of the state findings on the case yesterday, Johnson's mother, Pat, said: ``There is nothing I can say that will bring Matt back. We can't turn back the clock.''

The firefighter's father, Darrell, said, ``Now we want to hear what the Seattle Fire Department and the city of Seattle is going to do to keep this from happening in the future.

``Our son is gone, but there are a lot of other brave young men who need protection.''

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Blackstock fire timeline

Key events at the Sept. 9 fire. Times are estimates based on eyewitnesses and Fire Department memos.

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-- 9:21 p.m. Fire Alarm Center gets first call. First units begin arriving and spraying water on the building.

-- 9:40 p.m. Lt. Matthew Johnson and William Meredith enter the building. Both come back outside; Meredith replaces his air bottle; they return inside. Meredith leaves Johnson on the hose line to check another area. When Meredith returns, Johnson is gone. Meredith comes out and tells someone Johnson is missing, goes back in and finds Johnson. The area around them suddenly fills with smoke and extreme heat. Unable to find their way out, the two radio several times for help. No one comes. His oxygen running out, Johnson lies down and hands his radio to Meredith.

-- 9:57 p.m. At Station 32 in West Seattle, Lt. David Cass and his crew hear someone on their scanner radio say two fire fighters are trapped in the Blackstock building. Station 32 does not realize that the calls are not being heard on communication equipment at the fire scene.

-- 10:15 p.m. Meredith is found stumbling around near a front office of the building.

-- 10:44 p.m. Paramedics take Meredith to Harborview Medical Center, then return to the fire sometime after 11 p.m. Johnson's radio is found in Meredith's gear.

-- 11:30 p.m. Safety Officer Capt. Mike Brooks tells a deputy chief that Johnson may be missing. An exterior search begins while medics are sent back to Harborview to ask Meredith about Johnson. Medics radio their findings to the fire scene.

-- 11:48 p.m. Fire is reported under control.

-- Midnight Search for Johnson moves inside the building.

-- 1:34 a.m. Johnson's body is found.