SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Fire Department Chief, Charles Hood, is breaking down findings from a recent federal report that looks at ways to prevent firefighter injuries.

The recommendations can help the department learn what can be done differently, and what could have been done differently during the deadly Ingram Square Shopping Center fire in May 2017. The fire took the life of Scott Deem and injured two of his colleagues.

"Each and every member of this department felt the effects of that night and each and every member that was on that call is going to be scarred for life," Hood said.

The San Antonio Fire Department volunteered for the latest report from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. It details seven contributing factors to the Ingram Square shopping center fire the killed Scott Deem. The full report is not available yet, but Chief Hood broke it down a summary.  

"If we would have known this was an arson fire, the chances of us going into that building, probably would not have happened," Hood said.

Arson, along with other issues like winds, a lack of a sprinkler system, and freelancing are contributing factors.

"Freelancing fire tactics was a contributing factor and that’s something we requested be added on the Texas Fire Marshal's report," he said. "If they're doing something without command being aware of it, or if they are given a task and they deviate from that task and do something else, that's called freelancing," Hood said.

Earlier this year, a state fire marshal's report detailed firefighters' actions during the fire.

This new report makes nearly twenty recommendations.

"We looked at action items that we could take and either update through technology, provide additional training, work with development services as far as inspections. We did a lot of things, and so 80 percent of the things we signed up as action items, have been completed," Hood said.

Hood says they are working to add additional positions, and plan to offer more training for a variety of fires. The Scott Deem Rescue Training Center is preparing them for more scenarios.

"They have to be able to understand when they should not be aggressive and that is to understand your limitations. That is also a cultural change that we're working really hard on and I can say that we've pretty much eradicated that," he said.

Hood says the department is an aggressive department, and the goal is to be aggressive in areas like fitness, training, and understanding fire behavior.