1950
The workweek of firefighters was reduced to an average of 60 hours on October 1, 1950. Firefighters rotated between a 10-hour day shift for a week and 14-hour night shift for a week. The day shift switched to the night shift by working 24 hours on Mondays. The Monday became known as "Long Monday," and was dreaded by many of the firefighters. The night shift got Mondays off when firefighters changed to days. Each firefighter received two days off each week, one more off day than was granted under the old work schedule. Dry powder fire extinguishers were introduced into the department in 1951. The new type of extinguishing agent made it possible to fight small metal fires. The largest purchase of fire apparatus in the department's young history amounted to 19 pumpers and ladder trucks in 1952. American LaFrance manufactured them all.
Fire Station 34 was built on a donated lot at 2812 Berry Rd. and Jensen in 1952. The station was headquarters for new District 8. The following year a new Station 28 opened at 5116 Westheimer near Sage.
Self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) were put on the cars of the district chiefs and on all ladder trucks in 1953. Development of furnishings made of synthetic fibers and plastics made breathing more difficult during fires. Yet, the old "leather-lung" firefighters ignored the new breathing apparatus. They had a tradition to uphold, that of a "smoke-eater." Later after engine companies were furnished SCBA, the airpacks were usually buried under other equipment in the basket of the engines. A firefighter was considered a wimp for some years, if he donned an airpack at a fire. Fire Station 35 opened in 1953 at Holmes Rd. and South Park Blvd.
Around the 1950s, funeral homes still provided emergency medical transportation services; at a point the Houston Fire Department would take over that role.
In 1954, all first line fire apparatus were equipped with 2-way radios. Only chief cars had radios prior to this time. Each ladder company was equipped with 12 salvage covers. This allowed salvage work to begin much sooner in outlying districts. Only the salvage wagon, located at Station No. 2 downtown, had salvage covers, and its response time to outlying areas was taking too long as the city expanded and Fire Station 41 opened at 805 Pearl and Amarillo.
The first black firefighters were hired in August 1955. There were ten, but one flunked out of training. The remaining nine rookies were assigned to Fire Station No. 42, a recently annexed fire station located in a predominantly black neighborhood near the Ship Channel. With the Texas City Disaster still in mind, Houston Fire Department and the chemical companies along the Ship Channel organized into a group pledged to aid each other in the event of a disaster. The group was called the Houston Ship Channel Industries Disaster Aid Organization.
On the last day of 1956, Houston doubled its size with another huge annexation. It included areas served by 13 volunteer fire departments. Houston Fire Department kept seven of the stations as permanent fire stations and assigned one firefighter to each station. Volunteers at the fire stations continued to respond to fires.
At the beginning of 1963, a third shift was created and reduced the average workweek of the firefighters from 60 hours to 56 hours. Firefighters now worked three 10-hour days, three 14-hour nights, and then were off three full days. One hundred, two promotions were made to cover the extra shift.
In late 1965, city council raised salaries of firefighters by $50 to spur recruitment. Top pay for veteran firefighters was only $464 per month, the lowest paid firefighters among cities with populations of one million or more. The low pay hampered recruitment, and only three men frequently manned pumper companies. Manning of ladder companies sometimes fell to two laddermen.
A new 4-story headquarters opened at 410 Bagby on February 1, 1968. Fire Station No. 1 occupied the first and second floors. Administrative offices were on the third floor, and offices of Fire Prevention and Arson occupied the fourth level. In April 1969, a new central motor repair shop and maintenance complex opened at 1010 Girard. Cost of the complex was $600,000.
Houston's new Intercontinental airport opened in the summer of 1969 twenty miles (32 km) north of downtown. Fire Station No. 54 housed several crash rescue trucks and was located at the end of the two runways.
The new fire training facility at 8030 Braniff Street, just south of Hobby Airport, opened on November 10, 1969. The facility had two classrooms, a service garage, a multipurpose auditorium, and an office building. At the rear of the 15-acre (61,000 m2) site were a six-story drill tower and a two-story fire building for recruit training.
On March 31, 1975, Linda Honeycutt began her training at the Fire Training Academy. She became the first female firefighter and was assigned to Fire Station No. 9. A new fire alarm building opened in December at Preston and Bagby, across Preston from the new fire headquarters and Fire Station No. 1.
On July 31, 1979 the city's second largest fire in history erupted at the Woodway Square Apartments in west Houston, spreading over an area equal to about 10 city blocks which went to seven alarms and required 130 firefighters. The loss was put at $30 million, but there were no deaths or serious injuries, but left 600 people homeless. The size and rapid expansion of the fire were blamed on wooden shingles, which prompted a change in building codes.
In 1980, city council authorized two reductions in the workweek of firefighters. First a Kelly Day dropped the average workweek to 50 hours. The second reduction substituted a platoon day for the Kelly day. The platoon day gave firefighters 24 hours off after every sixth shift, and lowered to 46.7 hours the average workweek. Preservation of old Fire Station No. 7 as a fire museum began in 1980. The station had been proclaimed a fire museum by city council in 1977, but little was done to preserve the building. Chief Rogers assigned Captain Calvin Mendel to oversee the renovation project.
Seven rescue/salvage trucks were put in service in 1981, permitting the old salvage truck and special equipment van to be removed from service. Eight new telesquirt pumpers also went on line. By 1981, all pumpers were outfitted with 4-inch (100 mm) supply lines. The switchover from the old two-and-a-half-inch hose began in 1980. Hours were reduced to 46.7 hours per shift.
Headquarters was moved to the Logistic Center at 1205 Dart Street. The vacated space on the third floor at Fire Station No. 1 was taken over by Fire Prevention and EMS.
In January 1986, fire dispatchers began answering calls through the new 9-1-1 system. Six of the 22 fire districts were eliminated, and four quadrants were established. Deputy chiefs were moved out of headquarters to command the new quadrants, and reported directly to the fire chief. Also the photography section and Street Index were closed down. Arson investigators now had to take their own pictures. The aides were transferred to fire apparatus. Chiefs would have to drive themselves. If they needed an aide at a fire, they grabbed one of the firefighters on the scene. The largest acquisition of apparatus in the department's history took place in this year. Twenty-two engines, 16 ladders, and 30 ambulances were purchased. In 1987, mobile automatic status terminals (MAST) were installed on all fire and EMS units. The terminals ended the excessive radio transmissions on the fire frequency. A button on the MAST was pressed by the officer to report his status, which was recorded in the dispatch computer.
The city once again went north this time to annex the 1960 area and the HFD built a temporary Station No. 96 at West Greens Road and Mills in 1995. In 1999 a new Station No. 96 was built at Willow Chase and Breton Ridge to service the Willowbrook Mall area and opened in 2000.
In 1995, Houston expanded its city limits again to stretch out to the 1960 area and Kingwood area,this resulted in HFD to build a temporary station No. 96 at west Greens Road and Mills to help service the Willobrook Mall area, which was completed in 2000. The Kingwood annexation resulted in the Kingwood Volunteer Fire Department to disband after HFD took over or built new stations. They were numbered in the following sequence for the Houston Fire Department:
- Station #101 located at Kingwood and Ladbrook.
- Station #102 at West Lake Houston Pkwy at Northbrook.
- Station #103 at High Valley and Kingwood Dr.
- Station #104 at Forrest Cove Drive and Hamlin Road.
On May 25, 1991, the department added a fourth shift that created hundreds of new promotions. Under the new work schedule, firefighters had to work one of their off-days about every six weeks to keep the average workweek at 46.7-hour hours. The new mayor named Fire Marshal Eddie Corral fire chief in 1992. Corral became the first Hispanic fire chief in the city's history.
District Chief Lester Tyra replaced Chief Corral in 1998 after a new mayor took office. Chief Tyra was the fifth fire chief who had served previously as president of the firefighters' union (1970–90). Chief Tyra immediately instituted a self-evaluation of the department which resulted in:
- a 5-year strategic plan
- risk analysis of fire districts
- recognition as a leader department in 2000 by the country's fire chiefs and city managers.
He won approval for the purchase of 55 engines, six ladder trucks, three ladder towers, and a hazmat foam engine. (The new equipment was to replace 60 percent of the first-line apparatus.) In 1999, thermal imagers, which improved the search for victims and hidden fire, were bought and placed on all ladder trucks, hazmat units, and rescue trucks. Also, Fire Prevention was beefed up with the addition of 17 new fire inspector positions.
Read more about this topic: History Of Houston Fire Department