OK, everybody take a deep breath. There are too damn many variables here. It would be great if we could answer this once and for all of us.

I'd love to think that debate and investigation and speculation could keep crews safe the next time the horror strikes. In the fire service we talk a lot about lessons learned in hopes that we can save the next crew in a similar situation. We've learned some new lessons, revisited others, and been stunned by what we couldn't have imagined.

343 of my kind were killed. It would be nice it we could keep it from happening again.

No one in this conversation is an expert.

At many levels, this remains a personal matter and many of us in the fire service would be happy to keep it that way.

D