Goode Says Police Disobeyed Order to Put Out MOVE Fire

An anguished Mayor W. Wilson Goode testified Tuesday that police officials had disobeyed his repeated orders to “put the fire out” after a police bomb sparked a fire that destroyed a neighborhood during the May 13 police assault on the radical group MOVE.

Goode also said he was not told of key police actions, including a fierce morning battle in which police fired thousands of rounds into the fortress-like MOVE house and the use of explosives to destroy the group’s barricaded front porch.

But Goode also said he had approved the police plan to explode the bomb atop the MOVE house despite knowing children were still inside, that gasoline cans were on the roof, and that dynamite was believed stored in the house.

11 Died in MOVE House

The resulting fire destroyed 61 homes in the crowded West Philadelphia neighborhood. Eleven people died in the MOVE house, including four children.

Goode’s daylong testimony before an 11-member commission he appointed to investigate the MOVE incident detailed for the first time the critical collapse of top-level communications during the disaster, as well as the mayor’s own involvement.

Goode said his only direct information during the tragedy came from about 25 telephone conversations with Philadelphia’s then-managing director Leo Brooks, top city official at the scene.

But Goode said Brooks did not tell him that police had used explosives to destroy the front porch after a nearby police assault team was pinned down by gunfire, or that police had disobeyed his orders to avoid shooting into the house.

Police Had Machine Guns

Police records show officers were armed with an arsenal that included a .50-caliber machine gun, seven Uzi machine-gun pistols, and 38,790 rounds of ammunition.

Goode said he approved the police plan to use an explosive to dislodge a bunker on the MOVE roof about 5 p.m. after the use of water cannons, and an attempt to use a crane, had failed. Goode said police hoped to pour water and tear gas into the roof to force out the occupants, including five adults wanted on felony arrest warrants.

During the call, Goode said, Brooks told him “we decided to blow the bunker off, blow a hole in the roof.”

“I paused for, I guess, 30 seconds to absorb what he said to me,” Goode said. After being told that Police Commissioner Gregore J. Sambor had conceived the plan and believed it would work, Goode gave his approval.

The bomb was dropped from a state police helicopter at 5:27 p.m. By 6 p.m., Goode said he called Brooks to “give my first order of the day, which was to put the fire out.”

Fire Hoses Shut Off

Goode said he learned only later that police, fearful of gunfire from the MOVE house, ordered fire hoses turned off moments later. Although Goode said he pleaded repeatedly with Brooks, the fire burned unchecked for 65 minutes and was then fought only sporadically for the next two hours.

“I was saying over and over to him, ‘Put the fire out, get the fire out, what’s the matter?,’ ” Goode said, clearly upset. “I was acting in a very emotional manner.

“I cried because I knew that lives would be lost, that property would be destroyed,” Goode added. “I knew that despite all our good intentions, we had on hand an absolute disaster.”

Brooks, who resigned shortly after the incident, is scheduled to testify today. He will be followed by Police Commissioner Sambor.

MOVE is not an acronym but people familiar with the radical group said the name signified contradiction, confrontation and controversy.