February 12, 2015
MACON-BIBB, GEORGIA
ATF
investigators joined local investigators Thursday morning at the house at 2320
Fairview Drive, just south of Rocky Creek Road.
The federal
assistance is routine when a firefighter is killed, said Sgt. Ben Gleaton, a
Macon-Bibb fire investigator who kept vigil with his partner at the scene
overnight.
Investigators
looking for a cause of the fire started sifting through the ruins at about 7:30
a.m. Thursday.
Lt. Randy
Parker, 46, suffered fatal injuries when he fell through the floor of the
burning home in south Macon.
Parker was
pronounced dead at the Medical Center, Navicent Health, at 9:09 p.m., Bibb
County Coroner Leon Jones said.
District
Chief Nathaniel Hall said the loss weighs heavy on the whole department.
"This
is just a terrible thing," Hall said as he arrived at the scene Thursday
morning. "We're just trying to come to grips with it."
A few
minutes before 6 p.m., firefighters arrived to find the house engulfed in
flames.
After an
initial group of firefighters went into the house, the floor collapsed, and
several firefighters fell into the basement, said Chris Floore, spokesman for
the Macon-Bibb County government.
Six
firefighters, including Parker, were taken to the Medical Center. Battalion
Chief Steven Stafford, 59, was airlifted to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in
Augusta, and firefighters Adam Mitchie, 34, and Ferrell Cromer, 46, were taken
by ambulance to the burn center, Jones said.
Two of the
three taken to Augusta are being treated for smoke inhalation, and the other
for smoke inhalation and burns on his hand.
Two other
firemen -- Matt Couey, 27, and Ben Bollinger, 28 -- were listed in stable
condition at the Medical Center, Jones said.
The
homeowners, identified by a neighbor as Don and Kathy Coffey, were able to get
out of their brick home unharmed.
The initial
fire company arrived on the scene at 5:51 p.m., just minutes after they were
called.
At 6:43
p.m, while firefighters were actively battling the flames, the floor near the
front door gave way, sending a group of responders into the basement below and
setting off a “code red,” which called for an immediate evacuation and the
start of rescue efforts, Floore said.
After the
six firemen were taken to the hospital, Parker was pronounced dead.
“He is an
officer that served our community for more than 20 years,” Floore said.
Macon-Bibb
County government is asking the community to keep the families of Parker and
the other injured firemen in their thoughts and prayers, Floore said late
Wednesday. “Also please reach out to their crew members and friends as this is
a tragedy which impacts all of us,” he said.
Earlier in
the night at the fire scene, the Coffeys’ neighbor Sandra Carter said she was
alerted to the fire by a loud noise.
“I heard
what sounded like something exploded,” she said. “I ran screaming for my
neighbors, but they didn’t hear me.” She eventually made contact with the
Coffeys.
Carter said
she feared the worst for one of the firefighters, who later turned out to be
Parker.
“It just
seemed like an eternal time that he had been trapped in there,” she said.
Carter said
three of the Coffeys’ dogs were killed in the blaze, although firefighters
could not confirm that Thursday morning.
Once word
spread of accident, off-duty firefighters rushed to the scene to spell those
who were fighting the fire, Hall said.
"We're
such a family. We put our lives on the line everyday," he said. "We
don't want to take for granted what we do, but we're survivors. We're running
in when everyone else is running out."