NFPA Journal - January/February 2013 - (Page 17)

H 3AzArDS beYonD Fire A security camera captures a Chicago police officer as he tries to drag people to safety during a crowd-crush incident at the e2 nightclub in Chicago in 2003. traumatic stress disorder continued to affect me for a number of years. I remember one night driving out to the tip of Cape Cod and back to Plymouth. I don’t even know why. I couldn’t stand seeing people, but I also didn’t want to be alone. I started going to counseling [three years ago] and talking about what I went through in a different way and focused on me, but not in a selfish way. I was a survivor but I was still a victim. I was still holding onto guilt seven years after the tragedy. I never forgave myself for surviving. Seeking counseling allowed me to do other things—it allowed me to advocate. How did you get involved with the Chattanooga hearing? was huge—it made all the pain and fear of testifying worth it. The mayor also thanked me for coming down and said, “I think you just saved my city.” I was so emotional. What else are you doing as an advocate? I assist the Phoenix Society with any events they ask me to attend. I went to Capitol Hill with Amy Acton and Vickie last year to help lobby legislators for the Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act [which would offer tax incentives for sprinkler upgrades]. We spoke with Rhode Island Congressman Jim Langevin, who has I met Vickie Pritchett [director of public fire protection for the National Fire Sprinkler Association] at one of the Phoenix Society’s World Burn Conferences. She was interested in my story and the fact that I’d taken advocacy classes offered by the Phoenix Society. I wasn’t a public speaker. When Vickie asked me to head down to Chattanooga and testify, I wrote out a speech. I started by saying, “You’re only giving me three minutes, but the irony is that during the [Station] fire, in that amount of time 97 people died.” I was glad they gave me that amount of time—I wanted them to think about how fast people died in a fire without sprinklers. There’s a YouTube video of your speech. Were you as confident as you seemed? THE CHATTANOOGA ORDINANCE passed by one vote. the mayor thanked me for coming down and said, “i think you just saved my city.” sponsored the bill. A survivor’s voice means a lot more than a politician’s voice. I just keep telling other survivors how they can help by using their own voice. Are you also pushing for sprinklers in new one- and two-family dwellings? I was petrified. However, I was motivated after listening to the attorney who represented the nightclubs. I heard him say, “This isn’t Rhode Island, it’s Tennessee—[a fire like the one at The Station] is not going to happen down here.” I said to myself, “Just let me go up there and shut this lawyer up.” What was your reaction when you heard the council’s vote? I know that if I’m ever in a position to buy or build a house, it’ll be built with sprinklers. Sprinklers are expected to be in commercial buildings—why not have them in your house, when you spend the majority of your time there? There are still so many residential deaths. It’s one little thing that costs less than carpeting your house and will save the lives of your family. The Station site made headlines recently when the original landowner transferred ownership to the Station Fire Memorial Foundation, which is raising funds for a formal memorial. Do you support this? We found out that day. The ordinance passed by one vote. The councilman who was the deciding vote introduced himself to me afterwards and said, “I’m that final vote, and I think I would have voted the other way if you didn’t come down here and talk.” That For the families that feel they haven’t taken steps to move on, it’s really important for them to have something peaceful and respectful to remember, to not come here and see crosses made of wood that used to be part of the building and all of these different memorials. It looks like a gravesite, a very old gravesite. It’s depressing. Hopefully a new memorial will help them move forward. JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 NFPA JOURNAL 17

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - January/February 2013

NFPA Journal - January/february 2013
Contents
First Word
In a Flash
Perspectives
Firewatch
Research
Heads Up
Structural Ops
In Compliance
Buzzwords
Outreach
Electrical Safety
Wildfire Watch
Rebuilding a Hospital
Prepping for the Worst
Chicago View: A Preview of the 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo
Long Time Coming
Section Spotlight
What’s Hot
Looking Back

NFPA Journal - January/February 2013