30 Fires You Must Know: The Southwest Supermarket Fire

This episode features Frank Leeb, Chris Stewart and John Vance.

For drills and more go to https://30fires.com/

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This episode was recorded on February 12, 2025.

This episode delves into the critical importance of learning from past firefighting tragedies through the lens of the book "30 Fires You Must Know," co-authored by Chief Billy Goldfeder and Chief Frank Leeb. We explore how documenting these historical incidents creates a powerful learning tool for preventing future line-of-duty deaths.

• The book examines 31 fires that have significantly impacted the fire service, with all royalties supporting firefighter charities
• Chief Frank Leeb discusses fighting the "historical illiteracy" that leads to repeating the same mistakes that cost firefighter lives
• Detailed examination of the 2001 Southwest Supermarket fire that killed Phoenix Firefighter Bret Tarver
• How an exterior fire at a loading dock quickly spread through a grocery store, creating deadly conditions
• The 13 maydays called during rescue attempts and the lessons learned about rapid intervention
• Phoenix Fire Chief Brunacini's courageous decision to be completely transparent about what went wrong
• How the incident fundamentally changed the fire service's approach to commercial structure fires
• Why exterior fires must be extinguished from the exterior before moving to interior operations
• The critical importance of understanding that residential tactics don't work in commercial buildings
• How these lessons continue to shape firefighter training and response protocols today
 

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to the B Shifter Podcast
• 1:07 Introducing 30 Fires You Must Know
• 4:09 Why Historical Knowledge Matters
• 9:03 The Southwest Supermarket Fire Background
• 14:42 Brett Tarver's Final Assignment
• 21:34 The Mayday and Rescue Attempts
• 26:07 Phoenix Fire Department's Response Afterward
• 33:03 Lessons for the American Fire Service
• 42:06 Key Takeaways and Timeless Tactical Truth