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Business, city fined in connection with sofa superstore blaze
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
A series of decisions made in part to keep vagrants from entering his Savannah Highway establishment after business hours may cost the owner of the Sofa Super Store chain more than $30,000 in connection with the conflagration that claimed nine firefighters’ lives on June 18.
The state Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Sept. 20 fined store owner Herb Goldstein and the Charleston Fire Department for violating state safety regulations.
The retailer was fined $29,400 for the most serious of the violations allegedly committed, the failure to ensure that Sofa Super Store employees were able at all times to open an exit route door from the inside without special keys, tools or knowledge.
Exit doors on the front and rear of a warehouse adjacent to the retail showroom were padlocked from the outside on the night of the inferno that completely destroyed both buildings.
In addition, two sets of double-hung exit doors on one side of the store's showroom were locked with sliding bolts on the top and the bottom of the doors. Another exit door on the other side of the showroom was padlocked from the outside.
Goldstein was also cited for the absence of such safeguards in the store as sprinkler systems, alarm systems and exit-door lighting, and for not having a written emergency action plan in place and accessible for its employees to read.
One store worker was trapped during the blaze but was pulled to safety by firefighters.
The fine for the lack of sprinklers and other safeguards in the store is $2,500; for the lack of an adequate emergency plan, $875. In total, the store was fined $32,775.
The fines must be paid or appealed by Oct. 3.
In a written statement, Goldstein praised the Charleston firefighters "and other first responders who protect us each and every day."
But he also defended having locked the doors. "Our managers locked the doors at closing time to keep criminals and transients out of the building, and only when there were no customers present,” Goldstein said.
The report cited the fire department for four violations, including one "willful" violation for having an inadequate command structure that could ensure firefighter safety in an emergency. The fine for that violation alone is $7,000.
In all, the department now faces $9,325 in fines, which, like those levied against the retailer, must be paid or appealed by Oct. 3.
The citations came a day after the head of the state firefighters union called for the ouster of Fire Chief Rusty Thomas, charging that before the fatal blaze, he resisted efforts to bring the department in line with national firefighting standards and practices.
Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. and a majority of the Charleston City Council members continue to back the chief and his subordinate, Assistant Fire Chief Larry Garvin, who were in command of the scene at the Sofa Super Store blaze.
At a news conference at Charleston City Hall hours after the fines were announced, Riley said the city will fight the citations and has asked for a hearing to defend itself.
Riley said following the fire, the city changed some of the policies that incurred the fines, but he believes the citations were unfair and wrongly issued.
The fire department was cited for failure to have procedures for fighting a fire involving a metal truss roof, according to state officials. A city inspection report on the building compiled months before the June 18 fire made no mention of the steel truss structure.
Steel trusses are prone to failure in fires because the steel weakens when heated. The roof of the Sofa Super Store collapsed less than an hour after firefighters arrived at the scene.
The city was also cited for failure to inform fire brigade members about special hazards regarding flammable liquids and other chemicals, for failing to require that body protection be worn by nine firemen in interior structural firefighting at the superstore, and for failing to ensure that self-contained breathing apparatus was worn at all times by four firemen exposed to smoke and toxic substances while fighting the fire.
State officials did not say that the violations led directly to the deaths of nine firefighters, who died of burns or smoke inhalation.
It was the nation's single worst loss of firefighters since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center.
Legal observers said Thursday night the missteps identified in the citations could open the door to lawsuits against both the store and the city. In July, Motley Rice, the Mount Pleasant firm specializing in class-action lawsuits, filed a motion in state court to preserve evidence from the night of the blaze.
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