Coroner’s task difficult after tragic fire

Goal was informing families as soon as possible, Wooten says

Goal was informing families as soon as possible, Wooten says

Investigators faced a difficult task as they worked to identify the nine Charleston firefighters killed in the Sofa Super Store blaze and get answers to families of the fallen, newly released coroner’s reports show.

Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten and her staff were called to the Savannah Highway furniture store at 9:30 p.m. June 18. Flames had consumed the massive building, reducing the interior to ashes and sending the roof crashing down. Authorities knew several firefighters were missing, but they had yet to put names to the dead.

New details of that scene are contained in the official coroner’s reports, released this week in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by The Post and Courier. The documents are drafts, with final reports waiting on the ultimate outcome of several investigations into the fatal blaze.

Nine men were found face-down inside the ruins, several pinned under rafters. The bodies were badly burned, and could not be identified by sight, the coroner’s report stated.

Two men carried wallets in their pockets, and their driver’s licenses were found with their bodies. There were other clues as well: name plates, a captain’s badge, names or initials scrawled on the inside of clothing. One man carried nothing but two sets of keys with a host of grocery store scan cards attached to the chains, the report stated.

Family members began gathering at nearby station Engine 11, waiting for some word on their missing loves ones. Many were fragile, desperate for answers.

“Our goal was to get the families that information as quickly as possible,” Wooten said.

She asked the families to help with that task, providing whatever information they could about tattoos, dental records, or other physical characteristics of the missing men. “I told them as soon as we knew anything, they would get a call from me immediately, which I did all night long.”

Identifications were completed by the following day, and autopsies revealed that all nine men died from smoke inhalation and severe burns. Toxicology tests, completed later, showed no presence of drugs or alcohol in the men’s systems, Wooten said.

Wooten said protective equipment, including air tanks and masks, was found in proximity to all nine firefighters. That equipment was badly damaged by the fire in some cases, she said.

Wooten said that equipment is being kept in a safe location and has been “extensively examined” by experts for clues. But she said she could not discuss findings until the investigations are complete.