Inadequate training, outdated tactics and aging equipment cited in report.

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Water issues, inadequate training, no truck operations, building code violations, communications problems and no incident commander.

These were just a few issues cited in the Phase II report on the deadly Sofa Super Store fire released Thursday.

The panel also blamed the culture of the Charleston Fire Department for the events that led to the deaths of nine firefighters.

 Gordon Routely, who headed the review panel, called the comprehensive analysis "a tremendous challenge but an enriching experience."

The document is one of the most definitive and complete post-incident fire anaylisis ever conducted. The panel made several critical recommendations before the review started, Those resulted in operational and staffing changes in the CFD.

When Routely finished presenting the panel's critical analysis, an emotional Chief Rusty Thomas stood before the packed room and accepted responsibility for the deaths of his nine friends.

During the two-hour presentation, Thomas often sat stone-faced, his arms crossed. At times, his head was bowed. He wiped his face.

"I knew every single one...I'm so sorry that myself or somebody could not have done something differently that night to bring back those nine guys."

In a voice crackled with emotion, he added: "No one, no expert in this country will ever know what took place in that building that night."

Thomas, who announced his retirement Wednesday, said he thinks about the nine every single day. "It has been the hardest 11 months of my life..."

When he ended after thanking the community for supporting him and the fire department, he received another hug from Mayor Joe Riley as the crowd, who included council members, applauded.

Moments later, a councilman walked over to the chief, reached down and hugged him, saying a prayer aloud.

The panel set the tone in the introduction: "It will never be possible to determine every factor relating to this incident with absolute certainty. The deceased firefighters were the only witnesses who could have described or explained some of the events that occurred inside the Sofa Super Store."

The report -- dedicated to the Charleton 9 -- provides a minute by minute timeline. It traces the actions of firefighters and locations of apparatus during those minutes. Detailed diagrams show apparatus locations and interior line operations. Radio transmissions, photographs and video were used in this recreation of the fire.