Fires in metal buildings are difficult to battle.

For a group of firefighters in South Carolina, as well as their families, this undeniable truth requires no reminder.

Watching news reports of a Charleston, S.C., inferno that claimed the lives of nine firefighters the previous night, a chill ran up Jeff Homan’s spine.

The video images of the metal building fire reminded him of a fire recently in Meridian, Miss., in which the Fire Chief said was just as dangerous.

“What you had was a big metal building absolutely packed with combustible materials,” said Homan, referring to the infamous fire that recently destroyed a hotel restaurant supply business.

“Plus, you had firemen going inside to try and find the root of the fire. That is a dangerous situation but one firemen all across the nation face every day. It’s part of their job.”

Homan said a steel building is particularly good at holding in heat - an attribute which becomes a drawback in times such as this.

Large structures also add to the chance a fireman may become disoriented. Huge spaces with no walls in a steel building filled with smoke can test even the most seasoned firefighter.

The fact the Charleston steel building fire was in a furniture business also made Homan cringe.

“The combustibility factor of the materials inside was immense,” he said. “When we fought the fire here, there were pallets filled with the heating fuel used on buffet lines to keep food warm. There are plenty of fuel sources for a fire in businesses like that.”

It wasn’t clear if the Charleston store - an older metal building - had a sprinkler system installed.

If a sprinkler system had been put in and remained in working condition, the general steel building blaze may have been contained - or at least it would have stood a better chance of it.

“A sprinkler system isn’t designed to put a fire out," Homan noted, "But more to contain it, to keep the flames from spreading rapidly throughout a building."

“More and more new homes being built have some sort of system installed. But many business owners don’t want the expense of installation or the upkeep.”

Officials say there are lessons to be learned and passed on to other fire departments and the brave men and women forced to regularly combat this kind of severe prefabricated metal building blaze.

The unspeakable tragedy, of course, is that people lost their lives in order for those lessons to be known.