S.C. Sofa Store Fire

In June, fire swept through a Sofa Super Store furniture warehouse in Charleston, S.C., collapsing the building’s roof and claiming the lives of nine firefighters in the nation’s single worst loss of firefighters since the 2001 terror attacks at the World Trade Center. Federal investigators said that the blaze started on a loading dock area that housed a trash bin and was used to store old furniture. Employees on their cigarette breaks also frequented it. Safety regulators fined the Charleston Fire Department and a furniture store for violating safety standards in the blaze. The owner of the furniture store said later he wished he had put sprinklers in the building but that they were not required when he built the building in 1992. The families of nine firefighters killed were set to receive $700,000 each in donations and workers’ compensation payments. Relatives could also receive a federal death benefit that could put compensation over $1 million.