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On January 27, 1940,
thirteen residents were rescued from a fire in the Salvation
Army's Industrial Home at 915 McKee. Four employees of the
Industrial Home died in the fire.
A bond election
approved an expansion of the street fire alarm boxes.
Firefighters on the scene communicated with the fire
dispatcher either by telephone or fire box to call for more
fire equipment. Telephones were not always available.
Approximately 400 new alarm boxes were installed in 1940 to
cover more of the city. This brought the total number of
fire alarm boxes in the city to 820.
Six firefighters were
injured battling a fire in Henke & Pillot grocery,
Congress and Milam, on August 3, 1940. Later on December 2,
the plant of Merchants and Planters Oil at 3600 Clinton
Drive was struck by fire.
Fire Station No. 27
went in service in 1940 at 6302 Lyons and Kress. It was a
two-story, one-bay building of Classical Revival style
architecture and was designed by Houston architects,
Hamilton Brown and Howard E. Westfall.
At the beginning of
World War II, an auxiliary fire force of civilians was
recruited and trained to replace firefighters being called
into military service.
In 1941, Fire Station
28 opened at Berry and Louisiana, and Fire Station No. 4 was
moved to 4106 S. Shepherd and Banks. The move of Station 4
to southwest of the city had been recommended by fire
underwriters. A ladder and district chief were added to the
new station.
Fire commissioners
were out in 1943, after voters approved switching the type
of city government from a commission form to a city manager
type of government. Later, the city government changed to a
mayor-council type.
On January 13, 1943,
six people died when a two-story frame apartment house
burned at 107 Super Street. Twenty-five other occupants
escaped from the overcrowded building. The following night,
the Phoenix Furniture Store, 309 Main, and three adjacent
buildings were destroyed by fire.
In June, the
Weingartens Grocery at 1502 Main was destroyed in a
spectacular fire. Almost all of Houston's firefighting
equipment responded before the fire was
controlled.
On September 7, 1943,
the Gulf Hotel at Louisiana and Preston burned with the
greatest loss of life in Houston's history. Firefighters
received the alarm at 12:50 A.M. Fire was visible as the
nearest fire company left its station only five blocks away.
Fifty-five occupants of the rundown 3-story hotel were
killed, and dozens were injured. One hundred, thirty-three
occupants escaped down fire escapes, by stairs, and jumping
from windows. Firefighters battled the blaze for two hours
before they were able to enter the hotel and search the
ruins for victims. The fire started from a cigarette dropped
onto a mattress.
Two-way radios were
installed in district chief's cars in 1944 and ended the
dependence on street fire alarm boxes to communicate with
fire dispatchers.
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