Interesting trivia – Charleston fire blogger is part of Phase II report

There are much more important things about the Charleston report than the trivia I am about to share with you. To my knowledge it is not a significant piece of information, just something that may interesting to those who read the fire blogs.

If you scroll to page 256 of the pdf (Page G-3 of the report) you will find the document showing the last known fire inspection of the Sofa Super Store. It occurred in 1998. Here is what the panel wrote about that inspection on page 37:

A fire inspection that was conducted in 1998 identified several fire code violations which the owner was notified to correct. The violations that were noted included obstructed paths to exits and exit signs in need of repair.

The inspection report did not identify any non-permitted additions to the buildings and did not refer to spray finishing operations or improper use and/or storage of flammable liquids. It could not be determined if the additions had been constructed or if the non-permitted activities were occurring at the time of the inspection.

Now look closely at the signature on the bottom of the page. It is signed by Jay Lowry, then a Charleston fire inspector. Mr. Lowry now writes Firefighter Hourly, a blog that found its voice in the days immediately following the tragic fire.

There is probably no one on the Internet who has written more words about the Sofa Super Store than Lowry. Certainly few have written so passionately about the tragedy.

It turns that Jay Lowry actually wrote his first words about the store about 9 years before his blog appeared.