Three firefighters from the Oneida Fire Department - Lt. Robert Cowles, Fire Marshall Michael Whipple and 1st Deputy Fire Chief James Dowd - testified Monday in relation to the Nov. 12, 2006 fire at 106 N. Warner St. in Oneida.
"We could see a large amount of smoke coming from the building," Cowles said. "We could also see some fire coming from the south side of the building."
"I could smell the smoke," said Whipple, who received a call at home shortly before 2 p.m. calling him out to the fire scene. "I could see the smoke and when I got to the station, I could see the flames."
He was one of three firefighters who took charge of evacuating the Oneida Towers, as the buildings were in the path of the majority of the smoke and embers from the burning casket factory. From his vantage point at the Towers, Whipple said it looked like the entire factory was on fire.
By the time Whipple returned to the scene after transporting the Towers' residents to the Armory using Oneida school buses, it was almost 6 p.m., he said.
"Myself and two other firefighters operated our ladder truck until about three in the morning," he said.
Cowles said the main body of fire was knocked down in about two hours, with suppression efforts continuing into the next day for various pockets of fire that continued to burn.
About 13 fire departments responded to the blaze, with a few others remaining on standby throughout the city, he added.
"We said we were going to need a lot more people here and that it was going to be an outside operation," he said, explaining how the fire spread rapidly and was "very violent."
"It grew very fast from my experience of seeing a fire grow," Cowles said.
As fire marshall, Whipple said he interviewed Truman Sr. about three days after the fire, the morning of Nov. 15, along with then-Sgt. Frank Emmerich. During questioning, Whipple said Truman Sr. said he did not know who started the fire, why or how it was started.
"He told me the only thing left in there was a small propane cylinder the asbestos removal company was using," Whipple said.
Truman Sr. told them he knew of no electrical, heating or gas problems in the building.
The majority of Dowd's testimony revolved around the fire investigation, as he is head of the fire investigation bureau, a position he's held for about four years, though he's been a member of the bureau about 22.
He discussed a handful of previous fires on the property, most of which left minimal damage to the site. One, started by trespassers, left a 10-foot by 10foot hole in the wooden floor. None was nearly as extensive as the Nov. 12 fire.
The investigation into the cause revealed that the electric and gas were in working order, he said, and that there were no signs of "arcing," which takes place when an electrical current jumps between two wires.
"We examined every possible ignition source we could think of and found no accidental ignition sources," he said.
Part of his testimony involved the apparent destruction of one of the exterior overhead doors on an adjacent building to where the majority of the fire damage occurred and where firefighters first noticed the most smoke and flames. The building had two wooden overhead doors on opposite ends, he said. One had been destroyed by firefighters in order to get a hose into the building to help suppress the fire. The other, however, had been blown out from the inside, leaving soot and scorch marks above it, which Dowd said he found "strange."
He also discussed the mechanics of fires started by gasoline or kerosene, which burn above 2,000 degrees and are capable of melting copper, which melts at 1,980 degrees; during the fire investigation, Dowd said they found pools of copper piping that had melted during the fire.
Without an outside agent and only the wooden pallets and other materials already in the building, Dowd said the fire should have burned somewhere between 1,400 and 1,700 degrees.
In an earlier confession, Jeffrey E. Truman Jr., Truman Sr.'s son, admitted to starting the fire at the building by pouring gasoline and kerosene on pallets found in the factory. Dowd explained gasoline burns easier than kerosene and that gas vapors can burn at 40 degrees below zero, while kerosene needs to be at 100 degrees or higher to emit vapors, therefore making it harder to ignite.
Were gas poured on the pallets, the fumes would have filled the open space of the room Truman Jr. allegedly set the pallets alight. The vapors would have then ignited and caused an explosion.
"The initial ignition of that vapor needs an extensive amount of oxygen," he said. "When initially ignited, it's going to suck the air in, then explode out."
Dowd admitted there are many factors that go into an explosion, including temperature. He also admitted that he does not know the exact cause of the fire from his investigation.
Earlier in the day, Truman Sr.'s brother, James Truman, took the stand to discuss his talks with his brother about the North Warner Street property, including possibly taking over the security for the building.
"Me and my brother discussed if I was going to take care of security for the building, if I'd need office space and stuff like that," Truman said, indicating a proposed lease his wife, Tammy, testified about last week.
He admitted there was no specific agreement, but that they'd spoken several times about the idea and had discussed drawing up a document, as well.
"I told him to do what he needed to do, do what he wanted to do, and I'd sign it," Truman said. "I'm not that business-minded, I'm a more technical person."
The court also heard from an attorney for the Erie Insurance Company which insured the building for approximately $4 million. Erie and J.M.M. Properties, the company for which Truman Sr. is one of the principal owners, are in litigation over the claim for the building.
Marco Cercone said he drafted letters to the three owners of the company requiring they appear for examinations under oath in which they submit claims for proof of loss of building. The claims J.M.M. Properties sent in consisted of a builder's risk of loss at $87,000 and a building claim of more than $4 million.
Richard Smith, a public insurance adjuster, was the last to testify Monday. He said he was the one to write up the claim for J.M.M. Properties after a meeting with Michael Orr, one of the principals of the company and the man with whom he dealt most extensively.
The trial is set to continue today.