Published: September 08, 2007 01:36 pm            

A firefighter’s view

Editor:

This letter is in response to the front-page article of Aug. 27, 2007, referring to the Diversified Food Plant fire that occurred Jan. 18, 2007. The article referred to the “inaction” of the McAlester Fire Department, and the fact that we could have “linked to the sprinkler system.”

You should have printed an accurate account of the fire with the headline being, “Sprinkler system was turned off at Diversified Foods.”

The sprinklers were not turned off solely because of the ice storm, according to several employees interviewed after the fire. It was an ongoing practice there because they were constantly freezing up. The sprinkler pipes ran through areas that were basically large freezers.

Broken or not, it would not have mattered how many fire apparatus were ‘linked up’ to the sprinkler system since water tends to have a hard time getting past a closed valve.

Instead of allowing Bryan White, Diversified’s chief administrative officer, to lay blame on the fire department, you should look into who made the decision to turn off the sprinklers without advising the McAlester Fire Department.

In the article, White further states that we were “negligent” in fighting the fire and chose not to fight it because of the anhydrous ammonia.

We did attempt to fight the fire with absolutely no ground gained.

The fire started on the east side of the structure and had extended the entire width and between one-quarter and one-third of the length of the structure when we had arrived.

There were literally tens of thousands of pounds of butter and cooking oil in the area where the fire started. These and other products led to the great intensity of the fire. Further, the ammonia was not just on the back of the structure, but at least two 1,000 pound cylinders were reported in the interior of the structure.

Numerous “collection pots” as the employees called them were throughout the structure and were also fed by the 30,000 plus pound cylinder on the back of the building.

Having almost 24 years experience fighting fires and having knowledge of the layout of the building, I knew with the already failing roof that an interior attack of the fire was not possible. Also, because of the fire’s growing intensity despite our efforts to suppress it, it would be impossible to save the structure.

It is easy for someone to blame the fire department. Coming from a family of public servants, I realize we are sometimes criticized for doing our job. I realize most of these times people say things before thinking them through.

I am proud of my career with the McAlester Fire Department and would not want to cause it any negative publicity. This is why I cannot sit idly by and have someone say in the newspaper that the department, my shift, my men and especially me “balked” at attempting to extinguish this fire.

We never wish for any structure to be consumed by fire, but, with the ammonia already venting from the lines in the building and the fact that water being put on the fire was not helping, I along with the assistant fire chief and then the fire chief made the decision to evacuate the industrial park and pull the firefighters from the area.

We were, as always, the last to leave after ensuring everyone was out of the park. The state fire marshal, along with the McAlester fire marshal, conducted an investigation of the fire. Having told the state fire marshal everything that happened, he said we did exactly as we should have.

So often we read something in print and assume that is all there is to the story. I hope in the future that this newspaper will attempt to research both sides of an issue and then print both sides for all to see. I further hope that the people who read the story on the front page will find with ease this letter in the middle of the newspaper and see what actually occurred on Jan. 18, 2007.

Capt. Doug Basinger

McAlester Fire Department

        

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