On Monday, June 18, 2007, the Charleston Fire Department lost nine brave firefighters while battling a devastating blaze. At approximately 7 pm the CFD was dispatched to the Sofa Super Store, composed of a 42,000 ft single-story steel trussed showroom building with a 17,000 ft warehouse building located behind the retail space, located at 1807 Savannah Highway in Charleston.The first unit arrived 3 minutes later, unfortunately the building had no fire sprinkler system.
At 7:41 p.m. the showroom area of the store experienced a flashover while at least sixteen firefighters were working inside. The flashover contributed to the rapid deterioration of the structural integrity of the building, leading to a near-complete collapse of the roof minutes later. Many of the firefighters caught in the flashover were unable to escape and were trapped under the collapsed roof and shelving weakened by the fast-spreading fire. Several calls for help were made by trapped firefighters and efforts to rescue them were commenced. These efforts proved unsuccessful. By the time the fire was brought under control, nine Charleston firefighters had been killed. This proved to be the largest number of firefighter deaths in the U.S. since 9/11/2001.
The members of the Saddle River FD remember the 9 brother firefighters from South Carolina and will continue to honor there memory.