ALLEGATION: BECAUSE OF UNDER-STAFFING, PASSENGERS ON A BURNING AIRPLANE ON THE RUNWAY OR IN THE MANGROVES COULD ROAST LIKE HOT DOGS IN AN OVEN BEFORE HELP CAN ARRIVE
by Dennis Reeves Cooper
We have told you before that almost all of the investigative stories and commentaries you read in Key West The Newspaper (KWTN) start with a tip. One of the tips we received a couple of weeks ago alleged that recent staffing restrictions that have been imposed on firefighters at Key West International Airport (KWIA) could potentially result in a situation in which passengers inside a burning airplane on the runway or in the mangroves could roast like hot dogs in an oven before enough firefighters are on the scene to implement an OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standard known as “two-intwo- out.”
This standard requires that, when firefighters are confronted with a fire in an inclosed structure, at least one team of two or more properly equipped and trained firefighters should be present outside the structure before any team of firefighters enter the structure to fight the fire or look for survivors.
This standard has also been endorsed by the National Fire Protective Agency, according to a letter sent by airport firefighters to the airport fire chief and copied to KWIA Director Peter Horton last November.
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