LOCAL 3915   COLRAIN TOWNSHIP OHIO.  2 FIREFIGHTERS KILLED IN HOUSE FIRE, AFTER FALLING THROUGH FLOOR.

MORE TO FOLLOW AS DETAILS ARE RELEASED.

COLERAIN TOWNSHIP (IAFF Local 3915) DOUBLE FIREFIGHTER LODD UPDATE:

While so many of the facts have yet to be determined, initial reports are that, as a part of the 1 alarm response for the automatic alarm, a 4 FF company, including Captain Broxterman (full-time) and FF Schira (part-time), responded from nearby Colerain Fire Station 102, which is less than a mile from the scene.  While several companies were responding, the county dispatcher updated that it was now a “working structure fire" and that occupants were evacuating.  At 0624 hours, Captain Broxterman advised that her crew, Engine 102, was on the scene with smoke showing. Captain Broxterman and FF Schira went inside for the initial search, 1 FF assisted in stretching and the 4th was the pump operator.  A Firefighter with Engine 109, which had arrived behind E-102, later advised the commander to tell the interior crew to pull back out of the house, that "conditions are changing," and to re-deploy at the back of the house.  The IC tried to reach them on the radio, but there was no response after several attempts.  A “Mayday” and related procedures were initiated by command around 0645 hours.  A rapid assistance team (RAT) of Firefighters was on the scene, went to work and did their absolute best to heroically make their way into the house, but it was too late.  An unmanned hose line which was burnt in half was found in the dwelling, as was a hole in the floor leading to the basement.  Firefighters eventually found Captain Broxterman and FF Schira in the basement at 0710 hours.

Captain Broxterman, the mother of 2 children, who was also engaged to marry a Firefighter from another area FD (Green Twp IAFF Local 2927) and Firefighter Schira, single, represent this year’s first LODD's in Ohio.  In 2007, 5 Ohio Firefighters died in the Line of Duty. 

Two firefighters dead in Colerain COLERAIN TWP. – Two firefighters died this morning after they fell through a floor inside a burning home in Colerain Township, according to Fire Capt. Steve Conn. The firefighters’ names aren’t being released until their families are notified, Conn said. The two -- a man and a woman -- were members of Colerain Township Engine Company 102.