Rescue delays may have cost elderly Oak Grove man his life

Angry firefighters from Oak Grove say indecision and delay by superiors may have cost an elderly man his life in a house fire in the northern metro community on March 5.

Amid uncertainty at the scene about whether anyone was even in the house, James Verdi Blackford, 86, was found in a smoky upstairs bedroom, away from the fire that was started by a child playing with a lighter.

The firefighter who reached him said he believes Blackford was alive when he and two other firefighters brought him downstairs in the smoke-filled house.

Ramsey firefighter Chris Weiss, from one of the five departments on the scene, said it was too hot within the blazing house for him to remove his gloves to feel for Blackford's pulse, but "I made the determination he wasn't gone."

But once Weiss and the other two firefighters got Blackford downstairs, he said, they received word that an Oak Grove fire officer had ordered that Blackford not be moved any farther until a backboard could be brought in, a claim other firefighters affirmed but that later became a subject of dispute.

The controversy led the Oak Grove City Council to propose Monday night to hire an independent investigator to look into the fatal fire.

"We had ample time, but there was lots of indecision when decisions had to be made," said Matt Powers.

Among the questions are who knew, or should have known, that Blackford was in the house. Another question, according to Oak Grove firefighter Jon Faanes, was why the department did not hold its customary critique after this fire, particularly because it involved a fatality.

Blackford was found on his knees in his pajamas, with his head against the floor, 2 feet from a door.

At an April 14 City Council meeting, Faanes said Blackford was far from the fire, in a room untouched by flames, but that a ladder was never placed against the house in that area to rescue him.

"Why did it take us 30 minutes" to enter the building? Faanes asked.

On Monday night, City Council Member Kristen Anderson said, "These are questions that should have been dealt with in a critique after the fatality."

When Blackford was brought out of the house, black soot caked his nostrils, firefighters said. He died of smoke inhalation, according to a coroner's report.

Rob Engler, the Oak Grove fire official who firefighters say ordered the backboard, declined to comment, saying he was told by Fire Chief Tony Hennemann not to speak to the media. When asked after a City Council meeting about the backboard, Assistant Chief Curt Hallerman, who was in charge at the fire, told the Star Tribune, "I don't think they called for a board or anything. I would see no purpose to ask for a board."

The state fire marshal said the fire was caused by a child playing with a charcoal-grill lighter but would give no other details. The Anoka County attorney's juvenile division said it does not charge children under 10 with crimes.

Nearly home alone

Blackford, whose son, Jim, said he was a World War II veteran, lived with his daughter, Laurel Zepeda, and a friend of Zepeda's, who owns the house, Jim Blackford said. Zepeda declined to be interviewed. But on that Wednesday night, the only ones home were the elder Blackford, in the upstairs bedroom, and a 7-year-old boy, whose mother was renting a basement apartment.

"Umm, my house is on fire," he said, and then hung up 11 seconds later.

Dispatchers traced the call and, after alerting the Oak Grove department, called fire departments in East Bethel, St. Francis, Andover and, a few minutes later, Ramsey.

The boy was outside when he told an Anoka County deputy at the scene that an elderly man was still in the burning house. That appears on the 911 transcript at 6:44 p.m. -- 18 minutes after the boy made his emergency call to authorities -- and would have been known to anyone at the scene listening to the 911 information.

But Oak Grove officials did not send firefighters in immediately. Nor did they inform all the firefighters at the scene that Blackford was inside. Weiss, who has nothing critical to say of Oak Grove's department, said, "We heard a rumor that somebody was in there."

Oak Grove firefighter Tony Scavo said he was eventually sent into the house but said he was ordered to go to the attic to open up the ceiling. "I'll be honest," he said. "I didn't even know there was a body in there."

Faanes said he was told not to enter the house without a backup hose line, even though he said the backup line is not mandated by OSHA. He asked why firefighters were not allowed to walk around the structure "to perform a size-up" -- a procedure often done by the first arriving officer, he said.

"Why did it take a firefighter from another city to perform the rescue?" Faanes asked.

Chief Hennemann, who announced his retirement at the April 14 council meeting, said Monday night that he didn't feel it was appropriate to comment because of the investigation. In an earlier interview, he said, "You protect the people in danger, but not at the risk of your own life. You have to know if the structure is safe enough to go in."

Hennemann said he will retire in January, when he completes 25 years with the department, the last eight as chief.

"This isn't going to go away," Mayor Jim Iund said Monday. "We have a problem in the fire department. It's about time we step up and take care of it."