NIOSH Report LODD - Homewood IL

“He was a very positive, aggressive firefighter…a typical Irish Catholic South Side firefighting kid,” Grabowski said. “We are grateful to have had him for the time that we (did).”

The above quote was from Homewood (IL) Fire Chief Bob Grabowski’s description of Brian Carey, who lost his life in a fire in this small Chicago suburb back in 2010. If you Google this event, you will see that much has been written about it, but the fire is still not known to many. In the opinion of Joe Pronesti, Assistant Chief of the Elyria (OH) Fire Department, more need to know about it and learn from this tragedy.

Firefighter Carey lost his life in a flashover that also claimed the life of the elderly resident and seriously injured a fellow firefighter. We all have responded to a working fire with “reported people trapped.” Our adrenaline starts to pump and minds race as we respond. But this is also the time for us to really focus in on what is happening, be fully situationally aware and perform at a high level. To perform, one must be fully engaged and trained physically and mentally prior to the fire. One way to train is to read as learn as much as you can from the experience of others.