Garvin asked to resign from Charleston Fire Department

Charleston Assistant Fire Chief Larry Garvin, who was the initial scene commander at the Sofa Super Store fire where nine city firefighters died last summer, retired from the department today at the urging of the acting chief.

"I had really wanted to leave in March of next year," Garvin said. "Chief (Ronnie) Classen asked me to go ahead and retire."

All three of the department's assistant chiefs are expected to step down so that a new fire chief will be able to pick the senior command staff, according to Mark Ruppel, Public Information Officer for the Charleston Fire Department.

A new chief has not yet been selected, however, and no announcement is expected until September or October.

Assistant Chief Eddie Bath retired three weeks ago, and Garvin retired today. Classen, who was the other assistant chief, is serving as interim fire chief and plans to retire after the new chief is announced, Ruppel said.

Garvin, a 35-year veteran of the department, had been criticized in several of the reports that analyzed the tragic fire, and last year City Councilman Henry Fishburne called for both Garvin and Chief Rusty Thomas to resign.

Thomas resigned last month.

"I lost nine of my good friends, and now I feel like I've lost the rest of my family," Garvin said early Tuesday evening.

"I am sure there are people out there who blame me personally," he said. "It was just by the grace of God that I was not in there (the Sofa Super Store) with them."

Read more in tomorrow's editions of The Post and Courier.