Episode 252: The Charleston Sofa Super Store fire

It was almost the end of a typical Tuesday for workers at the Sofa Super Store in Charleston, South Carolina, in June of 2007, and several of them went out to the loading dock to smoke and kill a little time. One stray cigarette butt thrown too near the trash, and within an hour and a half nine firefighters would be dead.

Videos:

• Charleston Fire Department’s recovery from deadly Sofa Super Store fire

• First hour of dispatch audio from the Sofa Super Store fire

• Charleston 9: The Ultimate Sacrifice

• Line-of-Duty Death and Injury Investigations - NIST Fire Modeling - The Charleston Investigation

Articles and books:

• Newsweek: 'It looked like Hell was burning'

• Post and Courier: Sofa store owner tells his side

• Post and Courier: Trapped: The story of nine Charleston firefighters' deaths

• NIST Study on Charleston Furniture Store Fire Calls for National Safety Improvements

• Remembering the Charleston 9: 17 years after deadly Sofa Super Store fire

• The Sofa Super Store fire: The blaze that reshaped the Charleston Fire Department