The Philadelphia Fire Department and Department of Licenses & Inspections have reviewed the recently released federal investigation into the line-of-duty death of Fire Lt. Sean Williamson.
The after-action report, compiled by the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH), analyzes the 2022 fatal incident in the Fairhill neighborhood and offers several recommendations involving fire safety and building safety.
“Lt. Williamson was highly respected, well trained, and widely admired by his peers. We feel his loss every day,” said Fire Commissioner Jeffrey W. Thompson. “The PFD will closely examine the recommendations in this report in an effort to increase the safety of our firefighters. NIOSH investigators are to be commended for their commitment, diligence and thoroughness.”
Lt. Williamson died in a post-fire building collapse; four other firefighters and an inspector from L&I were injured. Two men were convicted last year in federal court on charges stemming from the arson that preceded the collapse.
“Our Department, through its Inspections, Safety, and Compliance Division, is fully committed to doing everything within our authority to ensure construction compliance and safety,” said Basil Merenda, L&I Inspections, Safety, and Compliance Commissioner. “Our mission is to hold negligent property owners accountable—because no firefighter or their family should ever have to suffer due to preventable risks or unsafe building conditions.”
“L&I’s Quality of Life Division will work in partnership with L&I’s Inspections, Safety and Compliance Division and the Fire Department through collaboration and data sharing to ensure our mutual goal of facilitating safe working conditions for both our inspectors and our first responders as it pertains to code compliance,” said Bridget Collins-Greenwald, L&I Quality of Life Commissioner.
The PFD and L&I are continuously working to improve safety measures for the public, emergency responders and inspectors. Those efforts include, but are not limited to, the following initiatives:
- L&I’s Division of Inspections, Safety, and Compliance will incorporate the IAAI/USFA marking system to improve the identification of hazards inside imminently dangerous, unsafe and vacant buildings. This will enhance L&I’s current use of red posters to identify imminently dangerous structures and orange posters to identify unsafe structures. This enhancement will give incoming first responders additional information to help access the structure and make informed tactical decisions.
- L&I, which is committed to ensuring safe and code-compliant buildings across the city, inspects every property associated with a change-of-occupancy permit and holds building owners accountable for meeting safety standards. In this case, the rowhouse had undergone multiple remodels and reconfigurations, not all of which were approved by the City. To identify unpermitted work, L&I relies not only on its inspection staff but also on reports from other City agencies and the public. Residents are encouraged to contact Philly 311 to alert L&I when they observe construction that may be occurring without proper permits.
- PFD will explore its ability to increase the number of field incident safety officers, a position dedicated to improving safety and communication on the fireground.
- PFD is implementing a personnel accountability system to digitally track members’ locations on the fireground at all times.
- PFD has incorporated a recently developed building construction course into ongoing field training and the curriculum for firefighter cadets.
Fire Commissioner Thompson met with Lt. Williamson’s family this week to discuss the report. Additional meetings are planned with PFD leaders and members in the field.
Lt. Williamson’s family respectfully requests privacy at this time. They thanked NIOSH in a statement:
“We hope the recommendations in this report will help make Philadelphia a safer place for residents and first responders. But we all have a role to play — we all need to do our part to protect this city, to protect this place that we call home. We don’t want any other family to go through what we have.”
Lt. Williamson, who had previously served in the Marine Corps, was a 27-year veteran of the PFD. His distinguished career included assignments with a specialized heavy rescue unit as well as a federal Urban Search & Rescue Task Force. He was posthumously promoted to Captain.