Twenty Year Anniversary of the Hackensack Ford Dealership Fire and Collapse

Today is the Twenty Year Anniversary of the Hackensack Ford Dealership Fire and Collapse that occurred in Hackensack, New Jersey on July 1st, 1988. The fire and resulting structural collapse of the bowstring trussed roof resulted in the line-of-duty deaths of five Hackensack firefighters. During the subsequent years after this incident there were tremendous lessons learned related to incident command management, operations, building construction principles and building performance, fire behavior, command and control, firefighter safety and the ever present dangers of the job.

Take the opportunity to learn more about this incident and other similar historical events, and expand your insights and knowledge base. Take a moment to reflect upon the supreme sacrifice made by these heroic firefighters and the messages that lay within the pages of the incident case studies, reports and summaries. There’s a lot of practical safety and operational information on this and other events along with a tremendous volume of information in the various text books on strategy and tactics, incident command and building construction. Learn from the past so we don’t repeat it.

Remember- NO MORE HISTORY REPEATING EVENTS! The Hackensack Ford Fire & Collapse occurred nearly ten years AFTER another tragic LODD event involving a bowstring truss roof collapse; the August 2nd, 1978 FDNY Waldbaum’s Fire, Brooklyn, New York that took the lives of six FDNY firefighters. We’ll talk more about the Walbaum’s fire in August. Street smarts for safety and survival…………Stay safe.
Pause to remember our brothers who made the ultimate sacrifice twenty (20) years ago, on July 1st, 1988 and the lessons learned from this event.

On July 1, 1988 Hackensack's Captain RICHARD L. WILLIAMS, Lieutenant RICHARD REINHAGEN, Firefighter WILLIAM KREJSA, firefighter LEONARD RADUMSKI, and Firefighter STEPHEN ENNIS lost their lives at Hackensack Ford when a bowstring arch truss collapsed entrapping them in the area below. The five firefighters were in the structure, a bowstring truss building, when the roof suddenly collapsed. Williams, Kresja, and Radumski were killed instantly, and Reinhagen and Ennis, despite heroic rescue attempts, succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Three (3) building factors contributed to the collapse of this bowstring trussed roof:
• Alterations that consisted of a heavy ceiling of cementitious material on wire lathe;
• Auto parts storage in the attic; and
• The Fire burned for a significant length of time and was well advanced prior to detection.
o This roof collapsed 35 Minutes after the initial units arrived.

CAPT. RICHARD L. WILLIAMS, Engine Co. No. 304
LIEUT. RICHARD REINHAGEN, Engine Co. No. 302
F/F WILLIAM KREJSA, Engine Co. No. 301
F/F LEONARD RADUMSKI, Engine Co. No. 302
F/F STEPHEN ENNIS, Rescue Co. No. 308

NFPA SUMMARY
Hackensack, New Jersey Fire Fighter Fatalities July 1, 1988

Five fire fighters from the Hackensack, New Jersey Fire Department were killed while they were engaged in interior fire suppression efforts at an automobile dealership when portions of the building's wood bowstring truss roof suddenly collapsed. The incident occurred on Friday, July 1, 1988, at approximately 3:00 p.m., when the fire department began to receive the first of a series of telephone calls reporting "flames and smoke" coming from the roof of the Hackensack Ford Dealership.

Two engines, a ladder company, and a battalion chief responded to the first alarm assignment. The first arriving fire fighters observed a "heavy smoke condition" at the roof area of the building. Engine company crews investigated the source of the smoke inside the building while the truck company crew assessed conditions on the roof. For the next 20 minutes, the focus of the suppression effort was concentrated on these initial tactics.

During this time, however, little headway appeared to have been made by the initial suppression efforts, and the magnitude of the fire continued to grow. The overall fire ground tactics were shifted to a more "defensive" posture (exterior operation) and the battalion chief gave the order to "back your lines out." However, before suppression crews could exit form the interior, a sudden partial collapse of the truss roof occurred, trapping six fire fighters. An intense fire immediately engulfed the area of the collapse. One trapped fire fighter was able to escape through an opening in the debris. The other five died as a result of the collapse. This incident and several others before and since, provide important lessons to the fire service regarding the fire ground hazards of wood truss roof assemblies.

This NFPA Summary may be reproduced in whole or in part for fire safety educational purposes as long as the meaning of the summary is not altered, credit is given to NFPA and the copyright of the NFPA is protected.

Learn from the past so we don’t repeat it. Remember- NO MORE HISTORY REPEATING EVENTS!

Open questions;
What impact did the Hackensack Ford Fire & Collapse have upon you in your career?
Were you aware of this event and its lessons learned prior to this posting?
What do you feel you need to learn related to Building Construction, Fire Behavior or Strategy and Tactics related to various occupancies and construction types?
How well trained do you feel your personnel are in the areas of building construction and fire behavior?

Additional References:

http://www.hackensack.org/content/49/142/229/default.aspx

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE3D6143FF931A357...

http://www3.gendisasters.com/new-jersey/6534/hackensack-nj-fire-aut...

http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=442&itemID=18676&...

Visit Memorial Park, Hackensack, NJ (http://www.cyberonic.net/~mikef6/p0000120.htm