Baltimore firefighters shared more about what happened inside a burning rowhome when it collapsed on top of four firefighters, killing three of them.
The three were trapped under hundreds of pounds of debris and one was still alive when his colleagues reached him.
Battalion Chief Christopher Hutson cannot remember a more deadly day of firefighting in his nearly 25-year career. Two members of Engine 14 and one of Truck 23, who he calls “his people,” are among the dead.
“You really can’t prepare for … total collapse of the interior. The roof to the third floor, to the second floor, down in this first floor. Because they were operating on the first floor when this happened,” Hutson said.
Firefighters Kenny Lacayo, Kelsey Sadler and Lt. Paul Butrim were essentially buried by the burning roof, wood, drywall and framing when the entire structure gave way on South Stricker Street, Hutson said.
“I talked to somebody who was right back there with Kenny and he was buried pretty bad from the waist down. And he was talking, but they just couldn’t get him out. They couldn’t get him out,” Hutson said.
Lacayo recently took the job at Engine 14, after more than 10 years of firefighting in Wheaton, Maryland. He had plenty of experience and was awarded for his bravery, but Hutson said there is little anyone could do to rescue Lacayo or his colleagues as the house burned around them.
“He was just in there. Just you know … it took them an hour plus to get him and Kelsey out. And it took … 10 hours to get Paul Butrim out. They had to tear the house down to get Paul out, he was buried so deep in the basement,” Hutson said.
Collapses during fires are one of the most dangerous scenarios a firefighter can face.
“It is extraordinarily dangerous. And it’s not uncommon for a trapped firefighter to be talking and the people just can’t get to them. There was a firefighter in Frederick, Maryland, who that happened to. You just can’t get to them no matter what you do. You’d have to have a water tower explode over the fire and have a backhoe there to get them out,” said Jay Gruber, with the Wheaton Volunteer Rescue Squad.
The team may have been unaware there was a fire at the same structure in 2015, which could have compromised its structural integrity. But Hutson said the neighborhood has fires frequently, as the crew responded to a fire a block away just two days earlier.
“They had no knowledge of the structural instability in that row house. They were doing what they trained to do, and they were doing what they wanted to do. Firefighters run to danger, and that’s what they did. And, they dedicated their lives and they lost their lives doing just that,” Gruber said.
Gruber worked with Lacayo after he joined the Wheaton department as a volunteer firefighter in 2011 and worked his way up to become a firefighter, EMT and paramedic. He was also a volunteer life member with the squad. Gruber describes Lacayo as someone who was passionate about helping others and gave 110% to the job he loved.
Friends and family have set up a GoFundMe page in his honor to help cover final expenses.
“I think that Kenny had a calling, plus, he liked helping people. And I think that was a reflection of who he was. And you know, that affability and that magnetism and that charisma that he had really just translated into his wanting to help others. And he just enjoyed helping others. He enjoyed the excitement; he enjoyed the ability to make a difference. And he was part of a family at the Wheaton Rescue Squad. It’s a family and we were his family,” Gruber said.
Firefighter John McMaster, who Hutson believed was working an overtime shift at the time of the fire, is recovering in the hospital.
