NICHOLAS FIRE FIGHTERS DIED LACKING EQUIPMENT

(12/11/2009)

Federal investigators say two firefighters who died fighting a mobile home fire in Nicholas County apparently didn't hear alerts to evacuate when their water supply ran low. Lt. Johnnie Hammon, 49, and Timothy Nicholas, 26, were killed Feb. 19 while fighting the fire in the Cottle area. Both men were members of the Craigsville Beaver Cottle Volunteer Fire Department. Hammon's brother, Gary, resides in Grantsville. The National Institute for Occupational Safety Health says the firefighters didn't have personal alert safety systems and radios. West Virginia's State Fire Marshal released a report saying that the firefighters lives could have been spared if the equipment they were using wasn't broken and had been checked recently or even routinely.

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