Survivors will never forget fatal Meridian fire

District Attorney Lynne Abraham found no criminal neglect in the fire, but a tangle of lawsuits among the building's owners, tenants and insurers went on for years.

For eight years, the burned-out hulk stood as a civic eyesore and ghastly reminder of the tragedy. Only when the building's owners settled a claim with their insurance company for close to $300 million could the building come down.

Because of its location, it had to be dismantled floor by floor. Crews finally took it to the ground just before the turn of the millennium in December 1999.

Firefighter Jack Bloomer, now 60, drove Engine Company Nine from its station at 6th and South streets to the fire that day, carrying Holcombe, McAllister and Chappell.

He returned to the firehouse alone.

Because he was the driver, he was assigned to stay with the truck while the other three ascended the tower. If the fire had started on a different shift, he recalled yesterday, McAllister would have driven and Bloomer would have been in the dark inferno with Holcombe and Chappell.

"Never a day goes by when I don't think of those guys," he said.