"When that fire happened, it was on the news all over the world," said Chris Jelenewicz, engineering program manager at the Maryland-based Society of Fire Protection Engineers. "The One Meridian fire was one of the most significant fires in the history of high-rise buildings."
The fire changed Bloomer, who was driving Engine 11 that night. With him were Capt. David Holcombe and Firefighters Phyllis McAllister and James Chappell.
Bloomer's the only one who made it home.
"I still think about it," Bloomer said. "I wonder, what if I'd been one of the guys inside? Would I have done what they did? It could have been me.
"It's not something you'll ever get over. It's always in the back of my mind."
That night, Bloomer recalls, "was a regular night at the firehouse" at 6th and South streets. Dinner was done, and he, McAllister and Chappell were shooting pool. The call came in about 8:30 p.m.
The fire had started on the 22nd floor, where a pile of oily rags left behind by a cleaning crew had ignited. Flames quickly spread upward. There were no sprinklers until the 30th floor.
When the platoon arrived at the scene, Bloomer's job was to stay with the truck because he was the driver. He began hooking up a hose to a hydrant at 15th and Chestnut while the other three climbed the stairs. There were no drawn-out goodbyes: Everyone had a job to do.
"It was one of those things that was understood," said Bloomer, who is now entering his 36th year as a firefighter and is assigned to Battalion 4, at 4th and Arch streets.
The trio ascending the stairs soon ran into trouble. About10 p.m., Holcombe radioed commanders that the team had become disoriented in heavy smoke on the 30th floor. A short time later, McAllister radioed that the captain was down and that the firefighters were out of air.
