(19 Jun 2007)
AP TELEVISION
Charleston, South Carolina, 19 June 2007
1. Wide shot of Sofa Super Store sign
2. Firefighter walking in front of burned building
3. Mid shot of smoke rising from burned building
POOL
Charleston, South Carolina, 19 June 2007
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Joseph P. Riley, Charleston Mayor:
"Nine brave, heroic, courageous firefighters of the city of Charleston have perished fighting fire in a most courageous and fearless manner, carrying out their duties."
AP TELEVISION
Charleston, South Carolina, 19 June 2007
5. Wide shot of firefighters carrying equipment out of debris
6. Wide of smoke rising from burned building
AP TELEVISION
Charleston, South Carolina, 19 June 2007
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Joseph P. Riley, Charleston Mayor:
"Certainly in my time as mayor we've never had a fire like this. We've haven't lost a firefighter and to lose nine is just a tragedy of immense proportions."
AP TELEVISION
Charleston, South Carolina, 19 June 2007
8. Pan firefighter carrying axe in front of burned building
9. Wide shot of building
STORYLINE:
Fire swept through a furniture warehouse in the US state of South Carolina on Monday night, killing nine firefighters sent to tackle the blaze, a disaster Charleston's mayor described as "difficult to fathom or quantify."
"Nine brave, heroic, courageous firefighters of the city of Charleston have perished fighting fire in a most courageous and fearless manner, carrying out their duties,"Joseph P. Riley told a news conference on Tuesday.
Two employees in the building were rescued from the blaze, which broke out at about 7 p.m. on Monday in the Sofa Super Store and warehouse in Charleston, Riley said.
Firefighters punched a hole through a wall of the warehouse to reach them.
Firefighters, police officers and other rescue workers saluted as the bodies were carried from the warehouse during the night.
"Certainly in my time as mayor we've never had a fire like this," Riley said. "We've haven't lost a firefighter and to lose nine is just a tragedy of immense proportions."
The cause of the fire was under investigation, but Riley said arson was not suspected. He said the blaze apparently started in a storage area. He was unsure whether there were sprinklers in the building.
Riley said the county coroner would announce the names of the dead.
Witnesses said the store's roof collapsed, throwing debris over about two-dozen rescue workers. Onlookers were hit with flying ash.
On Tuesday morning, flowers were left on the sidewalk in front of the wreckage of the one-story furniture store and its adjacent, slightly taller warehouse, both of which continued to smoulder.
The buildings are located on what residents refer to in Charleston as the "auto mile," a commercial strip of car dealers, body shops and stereo installers.

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