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SPECIAL REPORT
News, Major Incidents, Hot Topics |
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Message
from Jonathan Croom's Father to County
Firefighters
From The Erie County
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IT IS NOW ONE YEAR SINCE I stood on the corner of Bailey &
Genesee, waiting for fellow firefighters to eventually bring my firstborn son’s
body out of the basement of a burning building. Needless to say; it was the
worst day of my life. I began that day as I do almost every morning; taking refugees to When I arrived at the scene, and exited my Taxi, probably around
7:45AM, the first words out of Chills mouth were, “it doesn’t look good Mr.
Croom, we don’t think he made it.” Following a brief
conversation, he proceeded to take me to another firefighter who used to work
with my son; as he left to continue to do what he could to help. Unfortunately my son was not working with his regular crew that night.
He was called in to work an overtime shift. As the second firefighter promised, he faithfully stayed by my side
until I arrived at E.C.M.C. in the ambulance hrs. later,
with my son’s body wrapped in an American flag. I will be forever grateful,
especially to that firefighter, but also the other firefighters, police,
pedestrians, and Mayor Brown, when they found out who I was, came over to try
to give me some words of comfort. So there I stood, across the street from that burning building for
hours. Waiting, constantly asking questions, but getting know satisfying
answers. The responses to my questions that were most troubling were—“He’s
been in there for several hrs. We don’t know where he is. We think he might
be trapped in the basement.” Over and over I asked; what in the world is
taking so long to get him out of there???? “They have to pump the water out
of the basement first Mr. Croom” was the response. The overwhelming stress of waiting, knowing my son was in terrible
trouble and unable to do anything to help him. The incomparable feeling of sitting
next to Slim’s lifeless body in that ambulance, was
more than I could bear. When we arrived at E.C.M.C., I became dizzy, and had
to be taken to the E.R., with my blood pressure extremely high. Soon after we laid my son to rest, I met with the I.C. (incident
commander) who was in charge of the scene, to try to get some understanding
of what happened. I told him that when I leave here, I want to be convinced
that everything possible was done to save my son. He somewhat succeeded in
doing that, but led me to believe that when he sent Slim in that building
with Lt. McCarthy to attempt a rescue of civilians believed to be trapped in
the basement; that they both possibly fell through the collapsed floor
together. This later proved to be untrue. So at this point, our overwhelming grief is compounded with the belief
that my son lost his life for nothing; because as it turned out, know
civilians were ever trapped in that building. Slowly but surely over the months as information was provided, the
family got a clearer picture of what really went down that night. We received
our first shocking revelation when we listened to the radio transcripts from
the incident. Not only do we hear that they didn’t know where my son was, but
that it took three head counts before they even realized he was missing. How in the world do you not recognize that a member of your crew is
missing; especially when you know that at least one firefighter is
trapped?????? This is another question that there is no satisfying answer to. Six months later on February24th, I read an article in the Buffalo
News, based on preliminary results from the fire department’s recently
completed internal investigation of the fire. Now we find out, contrary to
our previous understanding; that my son went in that building in response to
his comrade’s mayday calls for help. Although it didn’t lessen my grief at
all, it helped me to better cope with what happened to him. A little more than a month later, on April 2nd, there is another
article in the Buffalo News. The comments in this article were based on the
findings of an investigation done by “NIOSH” (National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health) after reading their report, the suspicion I
had from the very beginning was thoroughly confirmed. They definitely did not
have my son’s back on that dreadful day. “NIOSH” pointed out several Key Contributing Factors in their
investigation. The first was that the fire department had no (SOP) standard
operating procedure, specifically addressing strategies, and tactics, when
combating basement fires, even though basement fires as they noted, are among
the most challenging. They mentioned in their report that firefighters should, among other
things, recognize that fire venting through a floor is a late indication of a
weakened floor system. (This situation was encountered by crews as early as 9
minutes into the event.) It was also noticed early in the event that the
floor was spongy and appeared to be getting weaker. One firefighter stated
during interviews, that his hand actually went through the floor, and that
their officer was advised of conditions. Yet, they say this critical information was never relayed to the I.C.
Another (Key Contributing Factor) mentioned was “interior condition reports
not communicated to command.” “NIOSH” pointed out that the basement fire burned uncontrolled for
more than 30 minutes, prior to the floor collapse. Instead of heeding the early clear warnings that it was time to get
out of that critically dangerous environment; after finally ordering the men
out of the building, they for whatever reason allowed three men to go back
in. This foolish decision led to the floor collapsing under Lt. McCarthy. The point is; my son should never have been put in the position to
have to make the selfless decision that he did, which resulted in him also
falling into the basement. Knowing the kind of person my son has always been though; I understood
why he without hesitation attempted to help his comrade. What puzzled me was
why he would go back into that building by himself, knowing how treacherous
the conditions were. That was answered for me as the report further pointed
out that “RAW VIDEO” showed Slim animatedly pointing at the building where he
knew the mayday call was coming from. He was also seen on the video getting
the attention of one of his crew members; as his crew was working right next
to the door leading into the Deli. The Fire Departments investigative report claimed that it was unknown if
Slim spoke directly to any firefighter before entering the delicatessen. It’s
insulting, and suspicious to me that they would even make such a ridiculous
statement. My son was courageous and loyal, but he was by no means a fool. (RAW VIDEO DOESN’T LIE!!!) There is no doubt in my mind that he was clearly trying to rally his
crew for backup. The same sorry crew that somehow didn’t even realize he was
missing for close to an hour.—???? There is no logical explanation for that,
other than total neglect. To let my son go in that building by himself, and
then run around acting like they didn’t know where he was, was despicable. To
Whom It May Concern; believe it or not; there is a God above, and we all reap
what we sow in this life. The camaraderie that my son talked about so much
was nonexistent. Earlier I commented that it was unfortunate he wasn’t working with his
regular crew. The way he described to me the relationship he had with those
guys, I know they would have had his back. It was reported that the mayday transmissions were heard as they came
across the radio, and also emanating clearly from the structure. Every
firefighter at that scene heard those urgent cries for help. That my son had
to take it on himself to rush to the aid of his comrade, in my opinion, is
inexcusable. Especially when you consider the fact that there were two other
crew members that went in that building with Lt. McCarthy.
They reported hearing a “POP followed by someone screaming for help from the
basement.” Instead of trying to ascertain who was in trouble, so they would
know where to focus their rescue efforts immediately; they rushed out of the
building as my son was going in. How do you understand that???????? A
firefighters job is to rush to the aid of someone in distress, not in the
opposite direction . Those two crew members should
have at least instantly recognized one of their crew was missing once they
came out.— As they were rushing past my son, they could have at least given
him some kind of indication of what had just taken place in that building. It
is unbelievable the lack of comradeship that existed at that scene. Way to much precious time was wasted, in my opinion, trying to
determine who was calling mayday and his location. Three men were allowed to
go back into that building, only two came out. There should not have been any
question who was calling for help. Another Key Contributing Factor stated by “NIOSH” was, “crew integrity
not maintained.” ( WHAT AND UNDERSTATEMENT!!!) IF there was any possible chance of a rescue, it was out of the same
hole they fell through; the same hole they were eventually brought out of.
They were right there, waiting for help that never came. I say they, because
even though my son’s whereabouts was unknown, he and Lt. McCarthy were right there
below that hole together… That’s where the rescue efforts should have been
focused immediately. —Not trying to break through a basement door that
couldn’t even be budged on other tries throughout the event. That so-called
rescue attempt, didn’t even come close to being
accomplished. It was a classic case of too little too late. My son JONATHAN SIMEON CROOM; gave the ultimate sacrifice. Not only
because of courageously performing his duties as a firefighter, but mainly
because of doing what he felt in his heart was the right thing to do. The
word Selfless that was used to describe his actions that night,
is a good description of how he lived his life. He was a selfless, kind, fun
to be around, loving person; that touched the hearts of so many people. You
would be hard pressed to find anyone who ever needed Slim’s help, or just
requested his presents, that had to asked twice. Just one of the many personnel experiences I would like to share,
which I think highlights the selfless person he was;
was when I lost my mother yrs ago. Slim came home from working his last night
shift. Knowing I was afraid to fly; quickly packed a bag and said “ come on Pappy I got this”, and drove me most of the way
to It was really heartening to hear from so many people around town, and
from out of town, commenting on how they knew my son, and what a nice person
he was. One encounter I had that was truly indicative of Slim’s beautiful
personally was with a U.S. Customs officer, as I was coming back into the
States from There is hardly a day that passes, that I don’t still cry for Simeon. To be convinced that we no longer have our son; that Gabe & Beau
no longer have their big brother; that his two beautiful babies, Joanna and
Jonathan Daniel will never know their father; that his fiancée Ingrid, who
was nine months pregnant with his son no longer has her beloved Jon, as she
would refer to him as “my Jon”; that extended family and so many close dear
friends are left with a deep void in their hearts, because of neglect and
tragic errors in judgment, is a hard pill to swallow. One that I will be choking
on for the rest of my life. Out of the many comments that came in from around the country, there
was one from a retired out of state firefighter that I’m glad I wrote down.
He said this. “With all the good things the IC and system was accomplishing, we (the
fire service) still have two dead firefighters…why??????? Because our pride so often will not allow us to admit defeat… “Defeat” as in Time’s Up!!!!! 1) Time’s Up: We cannot stop this growing fire with aggressive
offensive tactics. 2) Time’s Up: No more residents can be saved. 3) Time’s up: (Get all the firefighters out while they can still get
out.) 4) Time’s Up: Go defensive…Heavy streams from the outside and fill the
basement with Hi-X Foam We need to stop trading firefighters for JUNK!!!!!” It’s been a whole year since that happened; and we haven’t heard of
one person even getting a slap on the wrist for how horribly that scene was
handled. ———- I regret the day Firefighter Weiigen came to my house 11yrs
ago; doing a background check on my son before he was accepted to the
academy. ——- The job that Slim loved so much; let him down Big-Time on that
horrible day (August 24th) one year ago. Father of fallen fighter-JONATHAN SIMEON CROOM Jonathan Croom This is a message from the father of fallen firefighter Jonathan
Simeon Croom This is a reminder of how seriously important it is to react properly
to warning signs. Pointing to the importance of being there for your brother
no matter what the situation. If these two things were done, what happened to my son would not have
happened Please share these comments with other firehouses. Thank You Jonathan Croom Related: Investigative Report from The |