Firefighters must have proper training to deal with highrise fires to avoid the situation Clearwater firefighters encountered at Dolphin Cove condominiums.

Clearwater residents who live in multistory buildings should fear for their lives if they have been depending on the Clearwater Fire Department to save them in a fire.

That is the inescapable conclusion of a months-long St. Petersburg Times investigation of a June fire that killed two residents of an 11-story condominium building and seriously injured several firefighters.

No one is pointing fingers at individual firefighters who responded to the alarm before dawn June 28. They tried to do their jobs despite the difficult conditions they encountered at the Dolphin Cove condominium: a fifth-floor kitchen fire that roared out of control and filled the narrow hallway, a broken fire hydrant and dry interior standpipe that left fire hoses dry, soaring heat that burned firefighters through their heavy bunker gear, and residents who were so accustomed to false alarms that they were slow to evacuate.

But Wednesday's story by Times reporter Jennifer Farrell showed that poor performance by the Fire Department contributed to the tragic outcomes that day. Clearwater firefighters have not been sufficiently trained in highrise firefighting techniques. And the fire officers who should have taken charge and directed them that day did not do so. The scene dissolved into chaos as department guidelines were violated, firefighters got trapped or missed assignments, and rescuers yelled repeatedly for water or for help, talking over each other on the radio.

Two experienced and respected retired fire commanders who reviewed the Clearwater department's performance at Dolphin Cove for the Times found the number of deficiencies chilling. "They had no control of what their men were doing," said one. The operation, said the other, was "the product of a department in disarray."

Rank-and-file Clearwater firefighters who spoke to the Times before the city attorney issued a gag order did not try to deny that their department is in trouble. Said one, "There's no training. People are going to die."

Clearwater officials ought to be scrambling to correct the department's command deficiencies, institute new protocols and get firefighters more highrise training in environments outside of a classroom.

Instead, they are in denial. The Fire Department's own formal assessment of its performance at Dolphin Cove was embarrassingly inadequate. Clearwater Fire Chief Rowland Herald, City Manager Bill Horne and Mayor Brian Aungst have all defended the department, its staffing and its training in the presence of clear evidence of the department's shortcomings. They may believe that in doing so they are protecting the city from the impact of lawsuits that will be filed over the Dolphin Cove fire, but those answers betray their obligation to protect public safety above all else and to be honest with city residents.

About 80 percent of the Clearwater Fire Department's calls for service are medical, not fire-related. The situation is similar in fire departments all over the country. As old, fire-prone structures have been demolished and as multistory buildings have been required to install sprinklers, the number of fires has gone down. But fire departments still must train strenuously for firefighting, especially in highrise buildings where the potential loss of life in a fire is so great.

Residents who live in highrises and are counting on the training and professionalism of firefighters in a fire -- no matter what city they live in -- need to aggressively question their fire officials about the type of highrise training that is provided and how frequently, how many firefighters are dispatched to fires, and how prepared their department is to cope in a variety of highrise fire scenarios.

As the Dolphin Cove fire proved, their local fire department may not be ready at all.

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