Roger H. Lewis

November 6, 2013

I write this as a request from several people and agencies not to show errors or pats on the back, but as an educational tool for all of us in the fire service. I will try to stay on point with the facts but not only do I not know every single facet of what happened, there are certain things that must be explained to completely show the picture of this event.

On November 4, 2013 at approximately 4:10 pm, a commercial structure fire call comes in at 3430 University Blvd. which was a popular Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. For those not familiar with our response protocol, suffice to say at least three engine companies, two ladder companies, two rescues, three chiefs, and several other companies respond. The first engine was Engine 20 goes on scene and calls smoke showing with Rescue 20 on scene as well. The building is cleared of people and E20’s crew goes in with smoke coming from the vents on the roof. Engine 21 and Ladder 21 go on scene as well and I am still about 3 minutes out. E21 catches the hydrant while TL21 goes to the roof to begin ventilation. Fire 3, and Fire 1 get there shortly thereafter and I assume command.

At this time it needs to be mentioned what I saw upon my arriving and what I sized-up as a result. Although I saw a rare color smoke coming from the vents on the roof which was brownish-yellow, the smoke was not billowing out. There was some concentration of smoke but not enough to make me think that there was heavy fire inside. There was no evidence of fire damage to the building from the outside and great increase of smoke production for the first few minutes.

Engine 20 reports they are searching the building for the fire and are pulling ceiling tile in the kitchen area and later reported not finding much of anything as a result. Ladder 4, Engine 13, Rescue 103, Fire 4, and other equipment are now arriving. After some consultation with Fire 1 at the front of the building and now a few more minutes have passed we surmise that the fire in the walls of the structure toward the front or A side; still not an impressive amount of smoke and no fire showing itself. No lines laid as of yet as basically we have not found enough of anything to warrant shutting down the roadway to do this. We then sent Ladder 4 to begin opening up the front wall specifically at what appeared to be a pillar as there was some smoke in this area as well as at the top of the front parapet under the roof flashing. Engine 20 is still inside, Ladder 21 is on the roof and now Ladder 4 is at the front. It was at this point Ladder 4 opened up the pillar at ground level after some work to tear away plaster and lathe. The inside of the pillar immediately began to free burn which I could see clearly as I and Fire 1 and numerous other people were at the front as well. Ladder 4’s officer then got a hose line and proceeded to wet down the inside of the pillar with a fog nozzle.

Almost instantly as the water was hitting the inside of the pillar, I saw a flash of fire behind all of the still intact windows at the front. What followed was an explosion unlike any I have ever been that close to, with the subsequent concussion being so great it blew glass, banners, insulation, and pieces of ceiling tile completely out of the restaurant and as far away as the middle of University Blvd. which is what I guess to be about 60 feet. As I turned around to keep from getting hit with glass, I can hear Ladder 4 being peppered with glass in the roadway.

As a command officer I can tell you that everything up to that point was routine with no issues or errors to speak of and now everything changed. The only thing on my mind then was the thought that several of my firefighters had just been killed and now we were in may-day mode. We as on-scene chiefs for the next few minutes did everything we could to account for the whereabouts and condition of the crews at work on the scene.

The fallout following the blast is based partly on what I saw but mainly from conversation with the other crews. I first saw a piece of insulation fly out the front of the building and remember thinking that was a firefighter. Ladder 21’s crew expressed to me that the roof raised up what felt to be almost a foot and left them off their feet with rooftop A/C’s now moved from their mount. Ladder 4’s crew was knocked off their feet with the exception of Lt. Mallard who was standing behind the now open pillar. Engine 20’s crew reported that even though they were in the building, Lt. Kasika and FF Parramore were Ok and accounted for and later told me they were knocked to the ground and getting up seeing stars.

Let me point out several amazing things about this incident. First, no one was hurt. Wow! Second, all the crews after having been accounted for and were ok, went right back to work and completed the job, which I am not surprised about. Third, in my opinion, command worked well even in the face of a potential catastrophe. To have a single person run an event such as this is ludicrous. After the explosion, it took the collaborative efforts of me, Fire 1 Ch. Holsenbeck, and Fire 4 Ch. White to evaluate what happened and to reestablish calm and collected efforts to finish the job.

Let state the most important point. Different than the many fires I’ve been in and commanded in 25 years, this structure gave us no indication of what was to come. There was no puffing of smoke, no void spaces that we could see were smoldering, no heavily charged black hot smoke coming from the roof, and not much smoke banking down inside the building itself.

I know that I have not thanked everybody that helped but I wish to say thank you now. There was too much to do and deal with to know and remember everything. This is proof positive that every incident is different and don’t always line up into rigid parameters of tactics and strategy. Be safe out there!

Roger H. Lewis

District Chief, Fire 3 A shift

Jacksonville Fire/Rescue Department