FOLEY, Ala. — On June 18, 2007, nine Charleston, S.C., firefighters were lost in the line of duty. Also lost were 127.5 years of service and firefighting experience.

That dark day for the Charleston Fire Department and firefighters across the nation is remembered as the “Super Sofa Fire,” a 31,000 sq. ft. store that Foley Fire Inspector Joby Smith points out was actually smaller than several local furniture stores.

Numerous unidentified and uncorrected violations at Super Sofa that could have been addressed through an annual inspection would in all likelihood have lessened if not prevented the tragedy that resulted from the fire two years ago.

“It’s very easy when times are prosperous … to overlook what we have in place,” Foley Fire Chief Joey Darby told the mayor and council on Monday.

Darby’s reference was to the years of unprecedented growth in Foley prior to the current recession, when new buildings were going up on every corner. In such a climate of growth, Darby’s point was that existing occupancies sometimes get overlooked, as was the case with Super Sofa in Charleston.

“This year a push was made throughout the nation to try to do as many existing occupancy inspections as possible,” Darby said in his monthly report to the mayor and council. The chief reminded the council that when he came to Foley some months back he told them he intended to make inspections of existing occupancies a priority.

“We did find 31 violations … most minor … six major,” Darby said concerning recent inspections of six larger furniture stores in the Foley area.

“We were very pleased that business owners knew why we were there, and they cooperated.”

Indeed, Smith, in his report to Darby on July 16 concerning the furniture store inspections, noted “one of the businesses sent us a basket of ‘goodies’ to thank us for taking time to inform them of what we were doing and for making sure they were operating safely.”

Among the minor violations found in the Foley stores were fire extinguishers in need of inspection, emergency lighting needing repair and exit signs. The more serious violations included improper locking devices on exit doors and blocked exit lanes.

Where the “Super Sofa Fire” was concerned, only three of seven roll down fire doors actually closed during the 2007 fire. The last fire inspection at the store for code enforcement purposes was in 1998. The following year the annual fire inspection program for commercial occupancies was discontinued. Also, some exits at Super Sofa were found to be blocked and others padlocked.

From January until June, Foley Fire Department has conducted 121 inspections of existing businesses and 22 inspections of assemblies.

In other FFD news, Darby reported that the department responded to numerous motor vehicle accidents in June; 13 of those were motor vehicle accidents with injuries, 11 MVAs with no injuries. Also, Foley firefighters gave medical assists to EMS crews 13 times during June.

Other responses included four building fires, three grass and brush fires, and two extrications from vehicles.