The warehouse was built around the late 1800s of brick masonry frame with heavy wood truss construction. One of the fire fighters from Engine 3 approached the structure to open the large barn-like doors to enable the fire fighters to attack from the exterior. He was returning to re-open the doors to prop them open, when without warning, the parapet wall above the doors suddenly collapsed on him.
Fire fighter approaches center doors of warehouse.
The career department arrived on the scene and was positioned at the north end of the structure. The doors were hinged to be self-closing. The doors closed, and the fire fighter was returning to prop open the doors, when an exterior brick parapet wall suddenly collapsed on him, killing him instantly. Copies of photographs from the incident site were obtained from the career department along with an estimated time line of the incident. A site visit to the incident scene was conducted, and the site was photographed.