This Feb marks the 19th anniversary when three firefighters lost their lives in a house fire in Pittsburgh, PA. Captain Thomas Brooks of Engine 17 and Firefighters Patricia Conroy and Marc Kolenda of Engine 8 lost their lives in what is known today as the deadliest fire in Pittsburgh History.
"On a frigid night in 1995, shortly after midnight on Valentine's Day, three Pittsburgh firefighters died tragically in the line-of-duty on Bricelyn Street. They died together — confused, disoriented, and out of air — in a small, cluttered room in an old wood-framed house situated on a slope in East Hills." Writes Bruce Hensler.
We all know the story from studying it over and over, what went wrong at Bricelyn Street. From, bad ICS, pass alarms in the off position, accountability, to scene size-up, lack of radio communication, and the list goes on.
What we don't look at being firefighters is the rest of the investigation, the Fire Science, and was it flawed? Did investigators jump the gun and make a call due to the lack of science in 1995 and overlook things because we were in mourning within the fire service of the tragic loss of life that evening?
With countless hours of investigating this fire as a probie, and wanting to know more about it, I have found some investigation flaws, and some reports of those findings as well as the possibility that this entire fire that was once named arson was possibly an accident. It may come as a shock, because we want justice when we have a LODD in the fire service and answers to why it happened that judgment clouds over, and we jump the gun. as I looked for more and more information, I could barely find anymore than what most found. just a few reports that we use in firefighter 1 from the NFPA, and the IAFF with the fire findings, explanation of the deaths and what we need to fix, but nothing more. Relying on other blogs, and some possible dead leads, this is what I have found on the Arson investigation so far
on Charles Smith blog I found an article that states Dr. Gerald Hurst, 73, an Austin, a Texas-based expert who has studied the Brown case, and has been involved in several highly publicized cases where arson-related convictions were overturned after he questioned the veracity of what he calls antiquated arson science. Claimed that faulty forensics and a secret witness that was paid to testify wrongfully convicted a man of arson over a natural gas leak. "One firefighter reported seeing horizontal flames, which would indicate a gas leak." said Hurst
The Arson Case Briefing lays out the court case in a chronological fashion, and goes into detail about the criminal case.
In an article The Bricelyn Street Fire posted last year by Bruce Hensler he asks a question that I have been asking since I began my research. he also says "In reading the reports and listening to the video one senses there is more unsaid than said." which is so true, there is no audio, no true video, and no result in finding the American Heat videos he spoke of, so where do we go from here?
Was this really a fatally flawed fire? is the main question I ask, and the same one that Hensler addresses in his story. The answer is being investigated by
Innocence Institute saying that the ATF paid off witness's to testify against Gregory Brown jr. the man found guilty of three counts of Homicide in the Second Degree (for killing the three firefighters), two counts of Arson (endangering property and endangering persons), and Insurance Fraud.
This new evidence suggests that gasoline wasn't an excellerant in the fire, but it started from an ongoing natural gas leak, and further that the testimony used against Greg Brown was false and information never given to the Def. Lawyer.
This is as far as I have gotten in my research, as I have hit a standstill, I will continue evaluating this case as a firefighter to learn, and continue learning from other fire's like these.
America's first fire chief Benjamin Franklin, once uttered, “Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.”
We have to know our surroundings at all times, call for help, have good working equipment no matter the cost or it will cost us a lot more as we have learned from history.
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