- Author
-
Duval, R. F.
|
Comeau, E.
- Title
- Church Fire, Lake Worth, Texas, February 14, 1999. Fire Investigation.
- Coporate
- National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA
- Report
-
Fire Investigation Report
2000
64 p.
- Distribution
- For more information contact: Full printed copies of this report can be ordered, for a fee, by contacting NFPA's Charles S. Morgan Library, Telephone: 1-617-984-7445, Fax: 1-617-984-7060, Website: http://[email protected]
- Keywords
-
fire investigations
|
building fires
|
death
|
fire fighters
|
building collapse
|
fire spread
|
roofs
- Abstract
- On February 15, 1999 at approximately 10:42 a.m., a fire occurred in a church in Lake Worth, Texas. The fire resulted in the deaths of three fire fighters when the wood truss roof collapsed only minutes after the arrival of the fire department. The fire began in a storage shed adjacent to the northeast corner of the church building. A strong wind directed the flames on the east side of the church, eventually spreading the fire into the attic space of the church. As the pastor was cleaning up the church from the previous evening services, a teenage male came to the door of the church to report the fire to the pastor. The pastor went outside to investigate when he saw the shed ablaze, and the flames impinging on the northeast corner of the church. Just before the male reported the fire to the pastor, a police office from the neighboring jurisdiction of Samson Park spotted the fire and reported it to his dispatcher. (The town line is immediately adjacent to the church's property.) The dispatcher notified the Samson Park Fire Department, thinking the fire was in that jurisdiction. At the same time, a water department employee from Lake Worth spotted the fire and reported it via radio to his supervisor, who in turn reported it to the Lake Worth Fire Department. With the dual notifications and with automatic aid, a total of six fire departments responded to the reported fire.