Private William Bridges had been fighting a Memphis, Tennessee fire in April 1994. During the fire, he was caught in a cable television wiring. The wires were wrapped around his back and legs. Bridges eventually died from smoke inhalation.
The Memphis Fire Department is responsible for serving the city and surrounding counties of Tennessee, such as St. Clair and Macomb. Private Bridges's death left the department with more than half of its black employees.
The Memphis Fire Department serves Memphis, several surrounding municipalities, and townships. It is city-owned. The department provides fire- and rescue services to Memphis and the surrounding areas. The logo for the department can be found on the website. It reads, "Memphis Fire Department." A Twitter account also displays the MFD logo.
A District Court complaint claimed that officials from the city had broken certain rules regarding radio transmissions. The complaint also claimed that the fire department did not properly announce the location and coordinates of the command post. It also claimed that the department did not properly monitor radio frequencies, and that the division chief of the department failed establish a radio communication system.
Also, the complaint claimed that the department’s battalion Commander failed to properly monitor radio frequencies, and that the chief of the division failed to create a reliable radio communication system. According to the complaint, the battalion chief of the department failed to lead the call for a rescue group to locate Private Bridges after being alerted via the radio about his whereabouts. Additionally, the complaint claimed that the chief of the department's division failed to recognize transmissions received from the Fire Communications Bureau.
Additionally to the above, the complaint claimed that the department's division Commander failed to recognize communications from the Fire Communications office and failed to establish effective radio communication systems. Further, the complaint stated that the Department's Division Chief failed recognize the significance and failure to notify the location of a command post.
Despite the fact the district court ruling invalidated the department’s seniority system, it did not prohibit the city laying off more black employees than necessary. Also, the court rejected the argument that a department's seniority scheme was a valid application of the entire citywide seniority systems.
The court also ruled WMR/WBMR to be the MFD’s most notable and important. The WBMR allegedly consists of the newest MFD vehicle, the department's Twitter logo and the department's logo, the MFD badge, the MFD's Twitter account, and the MFD's most popular "firefighting" device. Heavy stream appliance, which is the MFD's most popular firefighting appliance, was inoperative so it wasn't activated.
Due to the fact that it had never been used previously to fight a second alarm fire, the "firefighting" device (heavy stream appliance) was not activated.