LODD 360 - FIF002
Charleston, South Carolina
"May the lessons learned from a truthful and complete analysis of this incident prevent future tragedies"
- Charleston City Report
Mark Wesley Kelsey – Captain 5
Mark Wesley Kelsey – Captain 5 Engineer Mark Kelsey was 40 years old. He was an Engineer with 12.5 years service. Mark Kelsey had a loud voice described as the hardest thing in the Ashley River Fire Department station. He was a gruff retired Navy veteran who told it like it is. He'd come into the station, set his walkie-talkie into the community room charger and ask who hadn't made his pot of coffee. And the coffee better be made with one large scoop, no more. "He was a very aggressive person, kept you straight," said Ashley River Captain Wayne Sammons. It was a gruff front of a kind man who took rookies under his wing and drilled them until they had it down. He left the firefighters at Ashley River with their voices choking as they talked about him. Kelsey, 40, was an engineer and a 12 1/2-year veteran with the city of Charleston Fire Department. He was serving as an acting captain as the trucks drove to the Sofa Super Store blaze just down Savannah Highway from their Station 10. He was a captain working part time with the Ashley River Fire District, joining 15 1/2 years ago when the Charleston Naval Base closed. Born in Indiana, he had come to Charleston with the Navy and never left. He had a teenage son. His passion was his custom motorcycle. He rode the chopper rain or shine. Short and stocky, he kept his
blond hair cut short and didn't like to dress up in suit and tie for the station Christmas party. He lived to fight fires. "If there was a fire, he was there. He always wanted to be the first one in," Sammons said. Kelsey refused an office in the Ashley River station, pointed to the housekeeping supply closet where he kept inventory and said that was his office. "He said an office closes him up, and he didn't want to be closed up," Sammons said. Shortly after the fire, an Ashley River firefighter took Kelsey's son to the Savannah Highway station. The son wanted to see where his dad worked. And at the Ashley River station, Fire Marshal Joe Friend stood in the community room staring at the coffee pot. "I was
waiting for that 'pot of coffee.' I was waiting for him to come in," Friend said. "I can't tell you how I'm going to miss him."
- Charleston City Report
