On a recent breezy morning, the smell of smoke filled the air as Hartford firefighters prepared to battle a basement fire. Teams from a ladder company and two engine companies rotated through the department training academy's "smoke house," where on this day firefighters must locate and rescue victims inside the home. And they must make sure that all their fellow firefighters get out alive.
Such training has increased since Oct. 7, 2014, when firefighter Kevin Bell died in a smoke-filled room on the second floor of a Blue Hills Avenue house after becoming entangled in wrought-iron furniture and running out of air. A fire department board of inquiry concluded that nearly two dozen systemic issues and mistakes at the scene led tothe city's first line-of-duty death in four decades. The board identified a lack of training for command officers, mistakes in firefighting and life-saving procedures, human error and equipment problems as playing key roles in Bell's death.