NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Attorneys on both sides of two lawsuits over a nursing home fire that killed at least 16 people in 2003 are using a surveillance videotape to buttress their claims about who was to blame for the deaths.
The videotape was among several documents in the cases released Friday in response to a motion filed by The Tennessean newspaper.
The tape shows that four minutes after a fire alarm sounded at the National Healthcare Corp. on Sept. 25, 2003, the first firefighters on the scene walked slowly through the front door and looked around, apparently unaware that there was a blaze on the floor above.
It would be another five minutes before the firefighters realized there was a fire, donned their gear and protective clothing and began searching for elderly victims fighting to survive amid the thick black smoke.
NHC attorneys say the videotape shows that firefighters arrived unprepared to fight the blaze and created a needless delay when they ran back to their truck to put on their gear.
Attorneys for the Nashville Fire Department and for the plaintiffs say the video shows that NHC staff members failed to immediately direct the firefighters to the fire.
''No time would have been lost if someone from NHC had been standing out front to direct the firefighters to the fire,'' said John Norris, an attorney representing two plaintiffs suing the nursing home company. ''Whatever time was lost by the firefighters not dressing out in full gear would have been gained if someone from NHC had been out front.''
NHC attorney David King said it was not clear from the videotape that NHC staff members had failed to help firefighters find the fire. Even if they had, he said, firefighters weren't ready to do their jobs.
''It's not a significant fact because they weren't prepared to fight the fire anyway,'' he said. ''And I don't think it's fair to assume the staff didn't say anything about the fire.''
One resident, Anna Tolston, 86, died of burns in the fire, and at least 15 others died of smoke inhalation during or after the fire.
In all, 32 lawsuits were filed by residents or their survivors. All but two of the cases have been settled in confidential agreements.
Virtually all records in the lawsuits had been sealed until The Tennessean filed a motion earlier this year.
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