Ten Years Later

Ten years ago, on Saturday, April 26, 1997 at 6.09 a.m, Firefighters of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District were dispatched to a reported structure fire at 2582 Fordham Street in East Palo Alto, which is on of the cities protected by the Menlo Park Fire Protection District.

Early reports by the dispatchers indicated that up to fifteen people might be trapped inside a home. When the personnel of Engine Company Two left the station located less than half a mile away from the fire, they could see a large column of smoke rising into the morning dawn.

They arrived at 6.13 a.m. and were immediately confronted with a fire in which eleven people would have to be located and rescued from a burning single story residential structure.

Two of the victims would be resuscitated and rushed to local hospitals where they would later recover and survive. But despite all of the firefighter’s heroic efforts of that morning, nine of those who were rescued, five of whom were small children, would perish due to the intentionally set fire in what was later categorized by some as every firefighter’s nightmare.

Fire and its tragic consequences can only truly be understood by two groups of people, the victims and their families who it affects, and the firefighters who work so hard to protect life and property, often risking themselves in a battle that may have tragic consequences and lasting memories.

Out of respect to both the surviving family members and those firefighters who have struggled over the years to put this behind them, we never released this report, but rather focused all of our efforts on public education and mitigation efforts.

After ten years it’s time to remind both the public and our newer firefighters that what happened on Fordham Street could happen again if we are not vigilant. To that end this story is dedicated to those that survived this fire. It is intended to improve public awareness and safety and to educate the general public and a newer generation of firefighters as to what could happen on any given day, at any given moment if we do not learn the valuable lessons from the past.

This is the story of one of America’s single worst multi-fatality residential structure fires as related by the statements of members of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District who were there that day.

The Fordham Fire

The quiet piece of an early Saturday morning was disturbed as the alarm tones for fire stations one, two and seventy-seven were activated. Dispatchers with County Communications, located in the basement of the Redwood City Courthouse, were busy trying to calm an excited caller who was reporting a structure fire in East Palo Alto with possibly fifteen people inside the home.

Deputy Chief Charlie Fasso operating as Battalion One responded from fire station one located at 300 Middlefield Road in Menlo Park. Fasso advised responding units on a tactical communications frequency that up to fifteen people may be trapped inside the building. As he reached Willow Road and Highway 101, he could see the large black column of smoke rising into the air from East Palo Alto confirming that they had a working fire.

Captain paramedic Mike Shaffer along with his crew of firefighter paramedics Grady and Cochrane responded from Station Two, the closest fire station to the fire and located at 2290 University Avenue in East Palo Alto, which is less than a half mile away from the fire.

As they left the station, Captain Shaffer advised that he saw smoke showing from the fire station and acknowledged the radio communication that he understood that fifteen victims may be trapped inside the structure.

Upon their arrival at the fire, two minutes and forty-five seconds later, Shaffer advised all in-coming units that they had a fully involved single story residential structure with heavy fire showing from the front of the home involving two of five parked vehicles in the driveway and underneath a carport located next to a garage.

He also advises that he will assume an aggressive fire attack to the front of the structure in an attempt to gain access to the building, and that they would hand lay their own water supply line to a nearby fire hydrant tasking Engine Seventy-Seven to pull a secondary attack hose line and back him up.

Acting Captain Paramedic Ken Steele, firefighter paramedic Morales and firefighter Mays responded from Station Seventy-Seven located on Chilco Avenue in the Bellehaven section of East Menlo Park. They also noted the large column of smoke as they left the fire station and Shaffer’s report on the conditions. After they arrived, they pulled a second attack line and backed Shaffer up.

Shaffer and Cochrane pulled the initial attack hose line and attempted to negotiate the hose through the fence opening and around all of the vehicles in the driveway so they could charge the line with water and begin their attack on the fire. They were marginally successful due to the tight quarters of the front yard and asked Grady to charge the line with water. With seven hundred and fifty gallons of water on board they could flow water through the hose line for almost two minutes before they would run out of water. Knowing this Grady immediately turned his attention to securing a water supply line to a visible hydrant after he set the pump panel to a pressure of 150 pounds per square inch of water being delivered through the nozzle handled by Shaffer and Cochrane.

Chief Fasso operating as Battalion One, the primary incident supervisor arrived shortly behind Engine Seventy-Seven at 6.15 a.m and established himself as Fordham Command. He noted the heavy fire involvement to the front of the structure and observed the crews of Engines Two and Seventy-Seven attempting to maneuver their hose lines around a three foot high cyclone enclosure fence that surrounded the property. Moving the hose lines was further complicated by at least five cars that were located in the driveway and to the side of a garage where a carport had apparently been built directly over the front door to the building.

Fasso also noted that the small flat toped residential structure was an eichler style building. He knew that these types of structures once burning, was like being inside an oven due to the low, all wood ceilings and roofs. He established his command post in-front of the structure and directed the crew members of Quint One and Rescue One to focus their efforts on entering the structure to begin a primary search upon their arrival. He also requested that an ambulance be dispatched to the scene and contemplated calling a second alarm.

Shaffer and Cochrane put on their air masks and turned on their breathing apparatus. While rated for 30 minutes of air, the firefighters knew that they could cut that time in half if they exerted themselves. Cochrane, with Shaffer backing him up directs the hose stream underneath the carport area where the two vehicles are free burning and blocking the main access to the structure. The heat and fire are intense as they sweep the area attempting to knock down the main body of the fire with some success.

Steele and his crew of Morales and Mays pulled a second attack hose line off of Engine Two and assisted Shaffer and Cochrane in attempting to knock down the fire in front of the structure in order to gain access to the front door of the building. Shaffer advised Steele that they needed to get into the house to start a primary search of the structure for any victims who may be in need of rescue.

Steele, seeing the problems with securing the front door due to the amount of fire coming from a vehicle located directly in front of it, uses a metal flashlight to shatter a large plate glass window located directly next to the front door opening.

Heavy black smoke and heat banked down on top of Steele and Mays as they cleared out the window opening. After putting on their air masks, they dropped to their hands and knee’s, crawling into the living room of the structure while advancing their hose line through blinding smoke towards the rear of the structure in search of both victims and an entry point to the rear bedroom area.

Out in the street Engine Operator Grady and Morales worked to secure a permanent water supply line for the fire engine to the nearest fire hydrant some two hundred feet away. In the background they could here the sirens of Quint One and Rescue One as they neared the scene.

Shaffer and Cochrane aggressively work the hose line to extinguish two fully involved vehicles located in the carport with fire also coming out from both the kitchen and garage windows. The firefighters note that the fire continually flares back up with significant intensity and they suspect that the vehicles may be leaking gasoline.

Inside, Steele and Mays found the hallway opening to the bedroom area and immediately located an unconscious male victim lying on the ground. With Mays assistance Steele lifted the victim onto his shoulder and both followed the hose line back through zero visibility and high heat conditions to the primary entry point where they exited the home.

As Steele and Mays exited the building, they were met by Captain Shaffer who assisted them in laying the victim down in the front yard. A paramedic with Baystar Ambulance immediately came to their assistance and began medical treatment of the patient. Captain Shaffer notified Battalion Chief Fasso that they had located a victim and requested a second alarm fire response and that another ambulance be dispatched to the incident. Fasso requests these additional resources at 6.17 a.m.

Quint One, a combination Engine/Truck arrived on-scene with Captain Paramedic Shurson, Firefighter Susinetti and Firefighter Paramedic Brovelli along with Rescue One, a special technical rescue vehicle, consisting of Captain Fraone and Firefighter Ianson.

Shurson, Fraone, Susinetti and Brovelli assembled their tools and attempted to gain access to the structures main electrical shut-off and gas meter which was located on the South side of the building behind a locked gate. The crew was delayed in gaining access to the side yard by construction materials and car batteries which blocked their path along with three aggressive dogs consisting of Pit Bulls and a Rot wielder.

Susinetti, seeing the problem, attempted an alternative solution which included jumping over the adjoining fence of the neighbor’s home only to be confronted by no less than seven aggressive Pit Bulls.

Fraone requests a carbon dioxide extinguisher which is quickly delivered by Engineer Grady who uses the extinguisher spray to push back the dogs while Shurson, Fraone and Brovelli force their way into the yard, where they are able to secure both power and gas utilities to the structure.

Upon his arrival, Ianson pulls a hard rubber hose located on an electric reel on Engine Two, which is known as a booster line. He sees the difficulty Cochrane is having with maneuvering the standard hose line and assists Cochrane with the vehicle fires in the carport focusing first on the wheels of the vehicles which were are on fire and threatening to burn Cochrane’s hose line.

Cochrane understands that he needs to protect the entry and exit point of the firefighters who have entered the structure behind him, but as he attempted to advance the hose line it continually becomes lodged underneath the tires of one of the five vehicles in the driveway, or other debris in the yard. Cochrane stops and goes back to clear the hoseline when the fire re-ignites the entire carport area.

Fearing that the exit of the firefighters inside the structure will be cut-off, Cochrane once again knocks the fire down with his hose stream by jumping on top of the hood of the still burning vehicle located in the carport and makes an aggressive attack on the interior fire gaining access through a window opening.

As the fire darkened down Cochrane hears on his portable radio that a victim has been found and that more victims may still be in the building. With Ianson still attacking the fire, Cochrane enters the structure by following the interior hose line into the bedroom hallway area where he locates a very large adult female who is unconscious on the floor.

Cochrane attempts to first shoulder carry the victim with no success and then attempts to drag her out of the structure. He is unsuccessful because her burned skin is peeling from her body. As he repositions the victim for another drag attempt, her head comes into contact with his air mask dislodging it. As he begins to breathe in the smoke, his fatigue is amplified as he continues to try to pull the woman out of the building. He begins to yell for help as Steele and Mays re-enter the structure. They quickly came to his assistance along with Morales and Shaffer.

Together, Cochrane, Steele, Mays, Morales and Shaffer are able to lift the victim and move her towards the entry point. Seeing that the victim will make it out, Morales notifies the group that he was resuming the search for victims.

He is driven back down to his knees due to the heat and heavy smoke condition that still exists within the structure, Morales enters the bedroom hallway and immediately finds two adult females lying at the entry of one of the rear bedrooms. Moving one of the unconscious victims so that he can prepare to pick her up, he notices a small child’s feet above the women. Grabbing the small child’s feet he swings the child over his left shoulder. As he turns to leave he notices another unconscious adult female lying in front of the adjoining bedroom doorway with a blanket in her arms and two small feet sticking out from underneath the blanket. As he maneuvers to grab this child, he notices yet another smaller set of child’s feet just inside the bedroom and leans in as far as he can grabbing the small child and placing the victim over his right shoulder. As he stands to leave he noticed yet another child lying motionless on a bed just inside the room.

Using the carbon dioxide extinguisher, Fraone and Grady advance their way past the gas and electrical utilities down the side of the home. Susinetti jumps back over the fence to escape the Pit Bulls in the neighboring yard only to be confronted with the dogs that Fraone and Grady are forcing back. Fraone uses an axe to rip window bars from the kitchen window that faces the side of the home. He breaks the handle of his pick headed axe as he attempted to pry the bars away from the window and asks Grady to quickly bring him a gas operated circular saw with a metal cutting blade known as a K-12.

Grady delivers the K-12 saw to Fraone who finished removing the kitchen window bars as Susinetti now uses the carbon dioxide extinguisher to continually keep the dogs back. When the extinguisher runs out, Susinetti uses the window bars Fraone has just cut from the kitchen window to push the dogs back as they attempt to move down the side of the house toward the rear yard.

After securing the utilities, Shurson and Brovelli move to the front of the home where they hear other firefighters calling for assistance, and see several of them struggling to carry a large woman from the front of the home. They quickly assist Cochrane, Steele, Mays and Shaffer in carrying a woman into the yard and laying her down.

Mays, who has run out of air from his air pak during the rescue drops to his knees to catch his breath while Cochrane feeling the affects of smoke inhalation becomes dizzy and struggles to catch his breath. Grady assists the ambulance paramedics by bringing additional equipment from both the ambulance and Engine Company to the front yard as more victims arrive.

Morales works his way back to the entry point with the two small children slung over his shoulders. As he approaches the exit to the home, he notices yet another small boy next to a couch in the front room that is both motionless and severely burned. As he exits the structure, he sees the victim assembly area and places the children next to the other victims.

Working with other personnel, he places oral airways in the small victim’s mouths and using a bag mask, begins to breathe for them. With four victims now in the yard Captain Shaffer advises the crews that they need to start triaging the patients and advises Battalion Chief Fasso to declare an expanded medical emergency. Morales advises Shaffer that he thinks one of the children may have a faint pulse, and a Baystar Ambulance Paramedic takes over patient care as Morales gets up to re-enter the structure yet another time.

Battalion Chief Fasso declares an expanded medical emergency which is not acknowledged by County Dispatch. He calls dispatch again at 6.28 a.m. and is informed that there are only 5 ambulances left in the County. Fasso requests that all five be dispatched to the incident.

Fraone and Susinetti work their way down the side of the home pushing back the dogs. Looking into the rear corner bedroom window, Fraone notices a small child on a bed. While Fraone rips the bars from the window, Susinetti uses a lawn mower to keep the dogs away and throws anything else at hand at the dogs to stop them from attacking them on multiple sides in the open back yard.

Once the bars and window is cleared, Fraone climbs up into the opening and pulls the motionless boy from the bed handing him out to Susinetti who holds the limp child until he can be placed over Fraone’s shoulder. Together they work their way back down the side of the house and into the front driveway where they meet off-duty Firefighter Neylan and a Baystar Ambulance Paramedic who quickly carries the child to an awaiting ambulance.

Despite their best efforts, the child is determined to be deceased and is later brought to the front yard of the home and exchanged for another child that appears to be salvageable. Neylan carries the child to a Baystar Ambulance.

Redwood City Battalion Chief Cavallero, along with Redwood City Truck Nine and Menlo Park Engine 6 arrive as part of the second alarm. Cavallero is assigned Operations, while Truck Nine is assigned to the roof to ventilate the structure. Engine Six’s Acting Captain Paramedic Miller along with Firefighter Carr are assigned to pull another hose line from Engine Two and extinguish the garage fire while their Firefighter Paramedic Schreiber is assigned to patient triage in the front yard.

Engine Five also arrives as part of the second alarm assignment with Acting Captain Robertson, Firefighter Paramedic Neel and Firefighter Pruit. Neel is immediately put to work as one of the primary paramedics in the front yard of the home. Using a triage tagging system, Shaffer, Shurson, Grady, Cochrane, Mays, Morales, Grady and Neel along with Bay Star Ambulance paramedics begin to determine which patients are salvageable and which ones are not. While fatigued, both Cochrane and Mays continue to assist with patient care despite their earlier experiences.

Robertson and Pruit are assigned to putting out the remaining fire in the interior of the structure. After putting on their air pak face pieces, they take the hose line used earlier by Cochrane into the structure putting out a small fire in the living room, extinguishing the partially involved kitchen and attacking the garage which is still fully engulfed by fire.

Shurson advises Brovelli that they need to help with the rescue of the victims. They both put on their air pak face pieces and enter the structure. Unlike the other crews who had gone through the living room to the rear bedroom hallway, they make an immediate right as they enter the building passing through the kitchen which was partially on fire and passing the doorway to the garage which appears to be fully engulfed with fire. They proceed down the other end of the bedroom hallway in heavy smoke conditions and find two female victims at the end of the hallway just outside of the farthest bedroom. With the assistance of other firefighters, the victims are carried outside to the triage area. Shurson determines that one of the females they have pulled out is deceased, and focuses his efforts in assisting with an adult male patient.

After declaring several patients deceased per County protocols, Neel focuses his efforts on assisting Shurson with an adult male patient who has very shallow respirations. Starting cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the patient suddenly begins breathing on his own and is quickly carried out to an awaiting ambulance where Neel assists with patient care all the way to Stanford Hospital.

Schreiber, Cochrane and Grady work to intubate a small boy who has a gag reflex, they quickly hand him to Neylan who runs him out to the ambulance.

Shaffer and another firefighter re-enter the structure working their way back to the bedroom area. They locate a single female victim lying just inside of a bedroom and together they carry the victim out of the building to the triage area.

Morales re-enters the structure and moves quickly to the rear bedroom area where he finds Shaffer and another firefighter pulling out a female victim. Noticing that the other two females he had earlier found have been removed, he locates a small child just inside a bedroom and picks the child up and exits the structure where he hands the child off to other firefighters who are triaging the patients.

As Steele attempts to re-enter the structure his air pak bottle runs low and he is forced to seek a replacement. Assisted by members of Engine six who recently arrived as part of the second alarm assignment, he changes his air cylinder and re-enters the structure where visibility has significantly improved. Noticing a small child lying next to the couch in the living room that is severely burned, he picks up the child and exits the structure placing the child in the triage area where the boy is quickly determined as being deceased.

Morales and Brovelli re-enter the structure running into Fraone and Susinetti. Together, they thoroughly search all of the bedrooms for additional victims. Finding none they enter the bathroom where Morales notices a small child hidden behind the toilet. Lying across the toilet Morales makes several attempts to un-wedge a small girl from behind the toilet and is finally successful. He carries the victim out to the triage area where she is determined to be deceased.

Engine Three responds from another medical incident and arrives as Neylan runs past them with a small boy in his arms to an ambulance. The crew of Captain Paramedic Auger, Firefighter Paramedic Zahnd and Firefighter Dehoney assist Neylan and Baystar Paramedics Galindo and Violet with patient care.

Auger reports into the command post and Chief Fasso assigns him as the Medical Group Supervisor for the incident. Auger requests a Life Flight Helicopter be dispatched.  Auger along with Zahnd and Dehoney they establish a landing zone at Bay and Clarke Streets where the child is taken from the ambulance and is transported to the hospital by helicopter.

Auger, Zahnd and Dehoney are then requested to respond to the home adjacent to the fire where they find Shurson treating two other females who were in the home, escaped the fire and are suffering from facial burns. Both patients are loaded into ambulances and taken to Stanford Hospital.

Paramedic Firefighters in the front yard determine that nine patients, five children and four adults are deceased and cover the bodies with plastic blankets as a large crowd begins to assemble in front of the home in the street.

With the fires extinguished, Fire Investigators are called in to determine the cause of the blaze. With the assistance of the San Mateo County Sheriffs Department and East Palo Alto Police Department Investigators determine that the cause of the fire is arson.

End of Report

Harold Schapelhouman, Captain
Special Operations
May 1997