The Incident
On the afternoon of May 31, 2013, units from the Houston Fire Department responded to a commercial structure fire located at the restaurant attached to the Southwest Inn at 6855 South West Freeway. While en-route to the location, HF E51 notified the alarm center that a large column of smoke was visible. The responding district chief requested a higher alarm at this point based on E51’s pre-arrival report. E51 arrived on the scene approximately 3 ½ minutes and reported that they had a single story restaurant with heavy smoke showing from the attic to the OEC (Office of Emergency Communications). E51 proceeded with an offensive attack, including the use of a 2 ½ inch hand line on the Alpha side/division of the structure.
Approximately
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This committee and its members were tasked with several different components to research the events leading up to and that occurred during the fire suppression efforts leading up to the collapse and eventual loss of 4 of Houston’s Bravest.
The following report is based in part off of the final report of the Southwest Inn Recovery committee, which utilized a multi-agency response with regards to carrying out the investigation.
The following agencies took part in this investigation:
• Houston Police Department
• Texas State Fire Marshalls Office
• Texas Commission of Fire Protection
• ATF
• NIOSH
• Outside structural engineers contracted by HFD to study the integrity of the
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Currently, The HFD now operates as a Class 1 Department as recognized by the ISO and operates out of 92 strategically located fire stations that provide a mixture of suppression and EMS service to its over 2.1 million residents, and 1 million that work in the metropolitan area of Houston daily (information provided by the 2010 US census).
As of the date of the LODD, The HFD had a roster of 3,789 suppression personnel and 118 civilian employees. The department runs off of a 24-hour shift schedule that requires a minimum of 832 members on duty daily to fully staff all of the department's first response vehicles. The OEC employs a minimum of 16 communications officer’s daily, who are responsible for dispatching an annual call load of 299,107 incidents (257,107 EMS and 42,064 Fire) based on 2013 annual statistics from Jan 1 to December 31, 2013.
The Department has the following resources available to the citizens of Houston on a daily basis:
• 87 Fire engines
• 37 Ladder/Tower Trucks
• 1 Automatic aid department
• 2 Shift commanders
• 21 District
Facts: A fire was evolved on September 23, 1981 in a log cabin due to a hot plate. The hot plate was left on with an accelerant and kerosene near by. The owner of the cabin, Henry Xavier Kennedy was convicted of Arson as he obtained an insurance policy for $40K on the cabin five days prior to this fire and police found evidence that the construction business owned by Mr. Kennedy was losing money, and Mr. Kennedy's alibi was insufficient to eliminate him as a suspect.
Ladder 1 and 5, Rescue 1, and Car 3 by 6:18pm. At this time Incident Commander number one request dispatch to strike a second alarm due to the size of the building and with the second alarm Engines 2, 16, aerial scope 2, and car 2 are all dispatched to the scene. At 6:20pm Incident Commander number one request building information from dispatch but no building plans were ever found creating confusion on how the interior of the building was designed. At 6:26pm Incident Commander one enters the building through a door from the first floor and goes up the stairway into the second floor where the fire originated as well as Engine 13 and Ladder 1 who report that elevator shafts were engulfed into fire. Incident commander number one reports there was possibly two homeless people still in the building and at 6:31pm Incident commander number two comes on scene in Car 2. Three crews from Engine 1, Ladder 1, and Rescue 1 were inside the building reporting the spread of fire and all work their way up the stairway to the roof to cleared a skylight and had it completely vented and started to descend down the stairs while each crew performed search-and-rescue sweeps of each floor for the homeless victims and fire extension checks. They also have 2 ½ inch hose line and 1 ¾ inch hose line on the second and third floor coming up the stairway for an offensive
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Sheriff's deputies responded, secured the scene, and contacted the bomb squad for assistance. Bomb squad techs and an investigator from the Maine State Fire Marshal's Office responded to the scene.
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Houston police officers continue to work non-stop for the residents in their city dealing with the devastating flooding while they suffer through the loss of one of their own.
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