Leadership failures cited in Illinois firefighter's death

BETHALTO, Ill. (AP) - Failures in leadership at the scene of a March house fire in southern Illinois contributed to the death of a firefighter, state investigators concluded.

Godfrey Fire Capt. Jake Ringering was killed and three other firefighters were injured on when a 21-foot wall collapsed in the village of Bethalto.

A report by the Illinois Occupational Safety and Health details the actions of crews from several fire departments that responded to the blaze about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis.

Although the home was already fully engulfed in flames when the first crews arrived, the report found that a 360-degree walk-around of the scene was never performed to observe potential hazards before the collapse, The Telegraph in Alton reported.

The newspaper, which obtained the report through a public records request, reported that OSHA investigators also found that the fire scene had 'œno established unified command post with unified task and purpose" to aid the fire crews battling the blaze.

'œIt was determined through employee interviews that IC (incident command) could not be easily located," the report states.

Investigators wrote that after a fire crew from the Godfrey Fire Protection District arrived, that crew volunteered to cut open the home's garage doors to access the spreading flames, even though the garage door was unlocked.

Allowing the Godfrey team to enter through the garage doors - which were beneath the 21-foot peak of the brick gable wall - was a 'œgreater risk than was necessary for the task,'ť the report states. It adds that the on-scene incident command allowed the Godfrey crew's actions even though by that time the home was a total loss and all of its occupants had escaped.

The firefighters should have instead entered a standard door that was offset from the brick gable wall's peak, the report found.

'œIf FF (firefighters) were on the side of structure less debris would have impacted FF and potentially could have saved a life and lessening injuries,'ť it states.