- Author
- Howell, S. M.
- Title
- Entrapment in Garage Kills One Firefighter, San Francisco, California, March 9, 1995. USFA Fire Investigation Technical Report Series.
- Coporate
- TriData Corp., Arlington, VA
- Sponsor
- Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington, DC
- Report
- Report 084, 1995, 45 p.
- Distribution
- AVAILABLE FROM: U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), 16825 South Seton Ave., Emmitsburg, MD 21727. Telephone: 301-447-1000. Website: http://www.usfa.fema.gov
- Contract
- EMW-94-C-4423
- Keywords
- fire investigations | garages | fire fighters | death | residential buildings | protective equipment | rescue | weather effects | fire detection | occupant response | structures
- Identifiers
- fire was started by arcing or stray current
- Abstract
- One firefighter was killed and eleven others injured, one critically, fighting a residential fire in San Francisco, California, on March 9, 1995. Three firefighters were trapped when an overhead garage door closed behind them without warning. The fire spread rapidly from its origin in a lower level bedroom. Sixty mile per hour winds accelerated the spread of the fue from the rear of the structure towards the front. The fire was initially attacked by entering the structure through the open overhead garage door. The cause of the door closing is not known. Several of the injuries were due to smoke and hot debris pushed onto the rescuers by the extreme wind conditions as they fought to save the trapped firefighters.