Controversy In Kentucky

WHEN A LOVELY HOUSE IN FULTON, KENTUCKY caught fire Tuesday afternoon, the town’s newspaper had a photographer on the scene. He took both stills and a video (which was immediately posted on YouTube).

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When the fire was finally put out, some city officials forbade the owners of the home to go inside and retrieve any valuables or keepsakes that might still be salvagable. Instead, they ordered the fire department (?) to immediately demolish the remains of the house. The owners wanted to get their valuables, but the city manager threatened the homeowner with arrest if he persisted in stopping the FD from the demolishment.

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The town’s few remaining citizens (about 2,000) are upset about a few things, also. First, they are infuriated that the occupants were treated so shabbily and not allowed to retrieve any salvagable possessions before the rest of the house came down. They are also not happy about the ladder truck not arriving on the scene until 24 minutes later.

Now, after they’ve seen the video, they think that the FD didn’t “try hard enough” to put the fire out. There’s a bunch of grumpy folks out there.

Read the story in the Fulton Kentucky News HERE and then scroll down to view the readers’ comments.

Now check out the controversial video:

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ray

i was there the whole time ,i also helped them gather what belognings they could i sat on the sidewalk and put what little bit of the whitsells life was left in boxes.i thought that the city manager was very rude and way to quick to order the house torn down ,what if this had been his home would he have so quick to tear it down then?and another thing while the f/d were eating thier dinner the house continued to burn. WHAT KIND OF CITY OFFICALS RUN THIS TOWN? my prayers are with the whitesells may GOD BLESS YOU!!!!!!!!

dee

i was there from the beginning to the end,and the whitesells were treated horribly. the city manager over stepped his boundraies,the f\d should have stayed on the scene till the house was safe enough for someone to enter. my house burnt a few years a go the f/d stayed till it was safe it was also a 2 story home built in the late 1900,s but they did not tear it down several days later we were able to retrieve several items in which the whitesells will never be able to do .my heart goes out to the whitesell family may GOD be with you.

Gail

Adam is correct. There are many in this town upset over what has happened but we would never want firefighters or anyone else to risk their lives retrieving items. There is no more altruistic couple in this humble little town ( and I am talking about the KY side, not TN) than the Whitesells and they didn't deserve to be treated like criminals as they were watching a lifetime of love and memories go up in flames. A fire destroyed my home in the middle of the night when I was a little girl. I know what it is like. Fire totally immolates and destroys, including humans. No one in Fulton wanted anyone at risk. However, there have been several homes to burn in the many years I have lived in this town and the county. To my knowledge, none have ever been pulled down to burn before allowed to "cool" off. There were no other structures at risk; there was no wind. There was utter incompetency on someone's part to make that call.

Adam

I believe a lot of citizens are miss understood about some of the anger coming from the citizens over this fire. While most of us are upset that the house was not left standing so eventually later down the road there would be a chance to retrieve possible remaining valuables, the majority of the anger on the situation is situated around the city's lack of professionalism in this situation, the manor in which they treated the homeowners through out the night, as well as the questionable immediate demolition of the house. To anyone who believes I or the citizens in this city are upset in the firefighters not rescuing any material items in the home please during the fire, please understand that is not the case.

Karen

I know for a fact, that firefighters went into the residents to retrieve items for the family. After an upper floor roof had already fallen in, and interior walls started lighting back up, they got out of the house. My husband is a firefighter, not for this dept., and I wouldn't want to take the chance of a roof falling in on him. Fire was trapped between layers of the home. The house was clearly a hazard to the area. The pictures do not show clearly how much of the interior was "involved". You really had to be there to understand the situation going on and what all really happened. This was a very unfortunate event. Thank God no one was hurt or injured. Life is more precious than material things.
These firefighters do a great job and are extremely under paid.

Billy Sparks

I could have sworn that while the master stream was flowing in the front street a crew made entry with a handline. I thought that if exterior attacks were going on then you should not also have interior attacks.

Joe

I agree with the def. ops. I don't why the ladder disn't respond for 20 minutes. i believe they have 4 people in the station, one man could have drove the ladder there.
I also believe the home was lost when they arrived and the FD did the best they could. Home was probably built in the late 1800's or early 1900's.
I would agree that there was some degree of the dwelling being unstable. I don't think the city manager had any rights ordering the demolition, I think he strongly over stepped his bounds.
The fire chief has every right to order a demo.
Considering the circumstances, I would say the City Manager will likely see a lawsuit, will likely make a large payout, loose another outstanding family from the area and I place money on his firing!

north chief

with the involvement of the roof and no occupants, I totally agree with the exterior operation. As for the city deciding they couldnt retrive posessions, thats a decision for engineers to make regarding structural stability, not city managers or firefighters.

Steve

Did a crew go inside while there were hitting it with master streams from the outside? Looked like that was a job for the ladder pipe from the start.

SteveO, FCFRD

But the truck wasn't there from the start. It showed up 24 minutes after the engine. (I think they had to wait for some off-duty FF's to show up and run it.) ... Firegeezer