UPDATE: More details about San Francisco fire that killed Lt. Vincent Perez & critically burned FF Anthony Valerio. Union president says they were above main body of fire.
Fireground audio & previous coverage
There are new details from Thursday's fire in San Francisco that took the life of Lt. Vincent Perez and critically injured Firefighter Anthony Valerio. The two were part of the crew from Engine 26 inside a four story hillside home at 133 Berkeley Way in Diamond Heights. In the video above, union President Tom O'Connor says the two men were above the main body of fire when they were burned and mentions wind as a possible contributing factor behind the intense fire conditions.
Lt. Vincent Perez (l) and FF/PM Anthony Valerio.
According to an article by Jaxon Van Derbeken at the San Francisco Chronicle, Engine 26 arrived on the scene at 10:47 and Lt. perez soon could be heard coughing as he provided a situation report.
"We have an active fire, zero visibility, third floor," Perez said. The home's third floor is actually the ground level from the street, with two floors below it built into a hillside.
A scene commander, identified by firefighters as Battalion Chief Thomas Abbott, ordered a crew from Engine Company 24 to back up Perez's crew inside the building. For several minutes, however, scene commanders repeatedly tried to find the Engine 26 firefighters, without success.
Finally, what appeared to be the last communication from the doomed crew came over the radio. "This is 26, this is 26. … Battalion 6, what's your location?" said a muffled voice.
"Twenty-six, this is command, I need to know your …" came in reply.
"This is Engine 26, we're on the third…" At that point, the voice over the radio trailed off.
The paper reports it isn't clear exactly when the firefighters were injured. They were found alone.
The paper also confirms what an anonymous person posting a comment to STATter911.com reported, that the emergency alarm that went off around the time it was determined the firefighters were in trouble was an accidental activation from Engine 20. Engine 20 was still responding to the scene.
