Fire report cites wide GFD flaws

Responders failed to follow proper fire fighting procedures, the incident commander failed to implement command procedures, dispatchers failed to record two-way radio and telephone communications — and Gloucester firefighters used equipment that may have actually intensified the blaze that burned through one historic Pleasant Street building and damaged another in two early-morning stages on March 4.

Those findings are among many outlined in the city-commissioned "after-incident" report released by city officials Thursday afternoon.

In all, the report, by Municipal Resources Inc (MRI). and based on the investigation of Chief Christopher LeClaire from the Portsmouth, N.H., Fire Department, found that Gloucester's command staff and responding firefighters failed to follow "best practices" for extinguishing the fire, which wreaked its havoc in two separate bursts.

Deputy Chief Miles Schlichte, the city's emergency management director, served as the incident commander for during the fire.

The fire that ultimately gutted the 14 Pleasant St,. building damaged the one at 16 Pleasant initially broke out shortly after 6 a.m.

Second wind

Firefighters and commanders thought they had extinguished the blaze. But, after the department pulled equipment back, the fire broke out a second time with greater violence an hour later, and after apparently eluding thermal imaging cameras, according to Gloucester Fire Chief Phil Dench.

The fire gutted parts of the buildings, including the office and upstairs apartment of attorney Patricia Schlichte-Johnstone and her husband, city assessor Gary Johnstone. Schlichte-Johnstone is the deputy chief's sister.

"The ensuing damage," MRI's report states, "was most likely a direct result of the initial fire being left unchecked and permitted to travel throughout void spaces between the first and second floor."

The fire started in the first-floor law office of Schlichte-Johnstone and her sister, Catherine Schlichte, according to MRI's report. The report states that the initial fire did extensive damage to the room, after everything in it apparently "simultaneously ignited."

City officials, including Mayor Carolyn Kirk, had said from the day of the fire they believed the blaze was "suspicious" in origin, but authorities have never confirmed a cause.

First responder

According to the MRI report, Schlichte arrived first on scene, and called in the initial working fire before requesting a second alarm.

The report states that he ordered firefighters to vent through skylights and a doorway leading out onto the roof. The first group of firefighters extinguished the initial blaze. The group then, according to the report, used a "positive pressure ventilator," essentially a large fan set in the front door, to blow smoke up and out of the building.

After the initial fire was thought to have been down for the count, Schlichte rotated crews, an hour after the first response.

As the crews rotated, the command released several engines, including Rockport firefighters who had also responded. But, by 8:30 a.m. according to the report, the fire kicked back up again, and crews were on the scene pulling on ceilings and walls before Schlichte and Deputy Cheif Steven Aiello, recalling in all engines, sounded a third alarm.

Crews reported fire coming in from everywhere they punched holes, with the blaze roaring in the walls.

MRI's report states that the shift change was a common practice, and the department uses it to control overtime costs. According to the report, the policy went into effect through a February 2008 memo from Mayor Carolyn Kirk, cited in the report. The report, however, also quotes Dench as saying that "financial concerns" don't play a role in decisions to adjust manpower during emergencies. The mayor said that that there is an emregency declaration in place that allows the chief to exceed the department's overtime account in the case of a fire involving more than two alarms.

The report states that the department did not properly extinguish the fire. It stated that if the department had pulled in ceilings during the initial fire, the blaze might have been contained to the room where it ignited. MRI's report added that Schlichte said he knew the building's layout, and called for the vertical ventilation.

Cameras 'no substitute'

Though the department thought the blaze was extinguished after checking with thermal imaging cameras, MRI indicated that the cameras were "no substitute" for taking down ceilings. The report also found the Fire Department's decision to use a positive pressure ventilating fan "especially troubling".

"The reported use of a positive pressure ventilation in the front door is especially troubling as this would intensify the fire due to the rapid influx of oxygen and strong wind currents forced into the fire area," the report states, adding that MRI was unable to confirm who gave the order for setting up the venting system.

MRI's report also cites problems with:

The Fire Department dispatch logbooks.

The department's record keeping. It stated the department does not record two way radio and phone communication, as suggested in the 2009 report of the Lorraine Apartments fire.

The department's "obsolete" dispatch equipment, and dispatch training.

Both MRI and Mayor Carolyn Kirk provided the department with a list of recommendations, to ensure that mistakes made during the Pleasant Street Fire don't happen again.

MRI Recommendations

MRI recommended that the department:

Conduct a full review of standard operating guidelines, and conduct frequent training with them.

Adopt the National Incident Management System.

Increase supervisory roles during fires.

Keep initial responding officers on-scene until the fire's put out.

Call back all off-duty personnel during working fires, not just group by group.

Encourage advanced training for all personnel.

In her response to the report, Kirk — who had, with other city officials, been under fire for sending MRI's initial report back to the company twice to deal with alleged "factual errors" — outlined her own series of orders for Chief Phil Dench.

She called on Dench Thursday to organize a task force consisting of himself and the deputy chiefs to oversee that MRI's recommendations change the way the department operates.

She also requested that each firefighter obtain professional firefighter certification, and that the department join with police dispatch, as the city unions haven't taken to the idea of regional 911 dispatch.

The MRI also includes a "strong recommendation" for the city to consider joining the growing Essex County Regional 911 dispatch center.

Kirk added that the city will continue to explore a joint public safety building. She said the administration will help fund any equipment upgrades the report requests.

The report itself had been the subject of public records inquiries from two city councilors — Council President Jackie Hardy and Councilor-at-large Bruce Tobey — and from the Gloucester Daily Times, which sought the full report and the drafts leading up to it through the newspaper's Boston-based law firm, Prince Lobel Tye LLC.

The document released by Kirk today includes the full Municipal Resources final report, and a collection of previous drafts that were first delivered to the city in June, then sent back to MRI after being reviewed by city officials and cited for the reported "factual errors," including the reported absence of a reference to the thermal imaging cameras in the first edition.

Steven Fletcher may be contacted at 1-978-283-7000 x3455, or sfletcher@gloucestertimes.com. Follow him on Twitter at @stevengdt.

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