It was on April 4, 2008 when Firefighters from Colerain Township (Hamilton Co, OH) responded to the type of fire dispatch that we all have turned out on many, many times. However, in this case, what was initially a reported automatic alarm resulted in double Line of Duty Deaths of a Captain and one of her Firefighters.
While responding to the AFA, the dispatcher upgraded the run, indicating the occupants were reporting a working house fire. Not long after that, Colerain Fire Captain Robin Zang Broxterman, 37 years old, a 17-year veteran career Firefighter and Paramedic, and Firefighter Brian Schira, 29 years old, a 6-month probationary, part-time Firefighter and EMT with Colerain Township Fire & EMS both died in the Line of Duty after the floor they were on collapsed into the burning basement - at that dwelling fire.
Following that loss, the Colerain Township Fire/EMS Department issued an in-depth report (numerous document, audio, and video links below) - as well as the NIOSH report - both loaded with valuable details on what happened.
Please DO NOT miss the chance to review these materials, including videos and share them with your crews. Critical details such as the importance of size-up, 360 walk-around, SOP and other information is of great value to every Firefighter and Officer. As we have seen in numerous other Firefighter deaths, as then Colerain Fire Captain Steve Conn stated "There was not one major mistake that caused the death of our 2 Firefighters. There was a perfect storm, a combination of several little things that hit all at the wrong time."
The Colerain reports have mattered in several cases, including the City of Defiance, Ohio, where FF's studied the report and following that-applied the lessons at a fire they responded to-and their scene operations were positively altered due to what they learned from Colerain. DEFIANCE FIRE INFO: https://tinyurl.com/yx4wretb
THE COLERAIN FIRE, REPORTS & VIDEOS:
Please Start With This Excellent OVERVIEW from CTFD:
==https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wbVgbHxt50
==HERE is the NIOSH Report:
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/reports/face200809.html
==HERE is the Colerain Township FD Report, Radio Traffic And Related Details:
https://www.colerain.org/DocumentCenter/View/1655/Squirrelsnest-LODD-Investigation-Analysis-Report
==HERE is an interview with current Colerain Fire Chief Allan Walls:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3nBuWJW9RA
==HERE are other video reviews of the report/findings highlights:
https://youtu.be/7wbVgbHxt50?si=2T_97WVQHv7QHdfg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUs3uDjr2Po
The best way to honor fallen Firefighters continues to be us learning from what they did-so we don't repeat what they did. RIP.