08/24/2025
Today we remember the lives of Fire Lt. Charles "Chip" McCarthy, 45, and Jonathan Croom, 34 both tragically died in the Line of Duty on August 24, 2009, when the first floor of the fire building collapsed into the basement, trapping them both. Buffalo units discovered a heavily secured mixed commercial/residential structure with smoke showing. Following failed initial attempts to locate an entry to the basement, crews located a door on side 2 (the Bravo side) that provided access down a flight of stairs to a basement entry door. Despite repeated attempts by multiple crews, they were unable to access the door.
Approximately 30 minutes into the basement fire, after other crews performed searches of the first and second floors finding no civilians, the command ordered all crews to exit the structure. McCarthy and two firefighters from his crew entered the structure at the front to verify that all firefighters had exited a first-floor deli. While following a hoseline into the structure, the first floor partially collapsed beneath McCarthy, dropping him into the basement. The other two firefighters were unaware of the collapse but exited when shelves began falling on them.
McCarthy made several mayday calls from within the structure and activated his personal alert security system (PASS) device. There was confusion on the scene when trying to verify who was calling the mayday, their exact location and how they got into the basement. The incident commander was unaware that there had been a floor collapse within the deli section of the structure.
As the mayday was heard, Croom – a member of the firefighter assistance and search team (FAST) – entered from McCarthy’s point of entry. It is believed that Croom knew where McCarthy was since he had gone into the structure with him earlier in the incident. Other firefighters also entered the deli, and those crews discovered the floor collapse and reported hearing a PASS device. They were not aware that Croom had entered.
As Command conducted accountability checks, McCarthy was immediately identified as missing. Croom was not accounted for as missing until the third accountability check, more than 50 minutes after McCarthy’s mayday.
After the fire was controlled and entry could be made, both victims were discovered laying beside each other in the basement where the first floor had partially collapsed. Their facepieces were on, but their SCBA cylinders were empty.
