Fairfax Co. Fire Chief: “We Should Have Found Her”; Timeline from Lorton Fire
“We should have found her”. Those are the words of Fairfax County Interim Fire and Rescue Chief David Rohr about the death of Debra Chiles.
STATter 911 has learned that the 49 year old Chiles was on the phone with 911 for two minutes after firefighters arrived at her burning Lorton home last Wednesday morning. Chief Rohr said today, “I think we had opportunities to find her”.
Chief Rohr confirmed there was no fire on the third floor of the townhouse where Debra Chiles had taken refuge in a bathroom. The fire was confined to the first floor.
Fire officials confirmed today the accuracy of a timeline STATter 911 put together. The timeline comes from sources familiar with the sequence of events, beginning with Debra Chiles first call to 911 just before 1:00 a.m.
Chief Rohr said Debra Chiles was still on the phone with 911 when the first firefighters arrived. The crews from Rescue 419 and Engine 419 arrived right after each other at around 1:07 a.m.
According to Chief Rohr, 911 workers properly relayed that there was a woman trapped in the third floor bathroom. Rohr said crews went immediately to the third floor. Despite the use of thermal imaging cameras, Chief Rohr said the firefighters didn’t find the woman during their first search.
A second search began after 1:35 a.m. According to Chief Rohr it was sometime during that second search that the woman’s body was found. He said at that point it was too late to attempt to revive Debra Chiles.
At the request of STATter 911, former Alexandria Fire Marshal Michael A. Conner looked at the aftermath of the fire and the floor plan of similar townhomes. Conner, now a senior investigative analyst for Doptis and Buchanan, called this a relatively small fire. Conner said he is puzzled how firefighters, armed with her specific location, in full protective gear, and a thermal imaging camera, would be unable to find Debra Chiles.
Chief Rohr also said he does not know why firefighters could not find the woman in time to save her. Rohr is hoping a “post-incident analysis” of the events will provide some answers.
See our 6:00 p.m. story here.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Fairfax County Fire officials confirmed for STATter 911 the following timeline of the major events from the fire at 9207 Cardinal Forest Lane. We originally obtained the information from sources familiar with the incident:
12:59:58 HOUSE IS FULL OF SMOKE. 2 PEOPLE ON 3RD FLOOR. 2 PEOPLE ON 2ND FLOOR. ALSO DOGS IN HOUSE. UNABLE TO GET OUT DUE TO SMOKE.
1:00:40 FIRE DEPARTMENT DISPATCHED.
1:02:53 ON CALLBACK CALLER STATES SHE’S IN THE BATHROOM. ATTEMPTING TO BLOCK DOOR WITH TOWELS.
1:03:08 CALLER AT 9205 SAYS THERE IS SOMEONE STILL IN THE HOUSE THAT’S ON FIRE. SHE IS GETTING OUT OF HER HOUSE NOW.
1:06:50 RESCUE 419 IS ON THE SCENE.
1:06:51 VICTIM ON 3RD FLOOR.
1:07:42 CALLER ON 3RD FLOOR OF 9207 CARDINAL FOREST.
1:07:51 ENGINE 419 IS ON THE SCENE. REPORTS 3 STORY TOWNHOUSE. SMOKE SHOWING.
1:08:09 FEMALE CALLER IS TRAPPED.
1:08:45 CALLER IS LAYING (ON) FLOOR.
1:08:58 LOST CONTACT WITH CALLER.
1:09:29 WILL TRY TO CALL BACK.
1:11:04 VOICE MAIL ON CALL BACK. CALLER APPEARED TO BE LOSING CONSCIOUSNESS WHEN CONTACT WAS LOST.
1:12:09 HEAVY SMOKE FROM 2ND FLOOR. FIRE FROM MAIN FLOOR.
1:12:33 BATTALION CHIEF 405 ON THE SCENE.
1:14:30 BATTALION CHIEF 405 REQUESTS 2ND ALARM.
1:35:44 ENGINE 422 REPORTS FIRE KNOCKED DOWN. HAVE NOT LOCATED 3RD VICTIM. STARTING SECONDARY SEARCH.
1:45:37 TOWNHOUSE IN REAR CHECKED. ALL IS FINE. RESIDENTS ACCOUNTED FOR.
1:58:16 COMMAND REQUESTS THE LAB, CRIME SCENE AND HOMICIDE.
