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Welcome to the Georgia Fire Academy
Report on the line of duty death of firefighter Steven Solomon which occurred Nov 23, 2006 at 257 Elm Street in Atlanta Ga.
On Thanksgiving night 2006, Steven Solomon and the other members of Engine Company 16, Atlanta Fire Rescue, entered a structure fully charged with smoke. They had only been inside for a short time when conditions deteriorated rapidly and caused the acting company officer to order them to exit the building. As they were leaving the building erupted in flames and Steven was separated from his crew. He suffered massive injuries and succumbed to them six days later.
The day after the event, Fire Chief Dennis Rubin, now with Washington DC Fire Rescue, asked a group of people to meet to investigate the incident. As a part of this program he asked Georgia Fire Academy Director David M. Wall to serve as the chair of an independent investigation to look into what occurred, provide recommendations for improvement and determine action for prevention of an occurrence of this type in the future. This group was to meet immediately and begin work. Along with Chief Wall, the members of the group who conducted the interviews were Deputy Chief Chris James of Augusta Richmond County, J. Gordon Routley retired Chief and consultant for the National Fallen Firefighters, and Dr Vic Pentz, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. After the interviews which occurred over the next several weeks, additional members were added to research and write the report. This group included Chief Wall, J. Gordon Routley, Chief Chris James, and added Fire Chief Marvin Riggins, Macon Bibb County Fire Dept; and Paul Morley, Battalion Chief, City Of Atlanta with assistance from Fire Chief Billy D. Hayes. This committee met and worked over many months to produce this document. This document was released without the results of the NIOSH investigation or with any of the SCBA testing information as it was not available to the committee at the time. This report is also a consensus document representing the conclusions of the panelists.
Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran, current Chief of Atlanta Fire/ Rescue released this report in January of 2007, in the same spirit of openness that Chief Rubin embodied. He is also hopeful that a similar incident can be prevented through a study of this and other incidents. We all hope that there will come a day when all firefighters on all shifts will go home safely.