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The fire department
took delivery of a new American LaFrance ladder truck in
1945. It had an 85-foot aerial ladder which was operated
hydraulically. Previous aerial ladders were raised and
lowered by hand.
In the summer of 1945,
the Port Houston fireboat ceased operation. The
Navigation District, controlled the fireboat, wanted Houston
to contribute more money for its operation. Houston refused
to up its contribution, so the Navigation District shut down
the fireboat. A month later, Eastern States Petroleum near
Manchester wharves burned and caused many injuries. Public
concern sent the city and Navigation District back into
negotiations, and the fireboat was placed back in
service.
The Aragon
Ballroom and an adjacent building were heavily
damaged in a four-alarm fire on July 13, 1945. It
took firefighters four hours to get the fire tapped
out. Twenty-three people were injured, including
several firefighters. Hundreds of guests of the
next door Cotton Hotel, Fannin and Rusk, were
evacuated during the fire. Property loss was
estimated at $250,000.
With the war over,
firefighters on military leave were returning to the
department. They replaced the auxiliary firefighters who
took their places during the war. A few of the auxiliaries
became regular firefighters.
In 1946, the National
Board of Fire Underwriters (NBFU) evaluated the fire
department again. Chief Lyles had taken a sudden leave of
absence, and Assistant Fire Chief G. W. Richardson was
acting as temporary fire chief. Uniformed firefighters
totaled 481, and the city was divided into seven
districts.
The NBFU report was
pretty critical of the fire department. (Part of the blame
could be traced to problems created from the war.) Training
took a hit. Operators were rated poor to fair during the
testing of pumpers. They were unfamiliar with their
equipment. Training at the drill tower was stopped in 1941,
and the two training officers reassigned to fire stations.
There was a shortage after firefighters went to war. Because
of the discontinuation of drills in 1941, the report
concluded, many men are deficient in proper
training.
Operation at fires
took a huge hit. The report detailed deficiencies including:
1) little planning in the layout of hose and failure to hook
up at fire hydrants; 2) spray nozzles not used due to lack
of knowledge of their use; 3) lines frequently moved from
position to position without first draining the line,
despite the availability of hose clamps; 4) lack of rules
requiring hook up to sprinkler and standpipe connections; 5)
forcible entry tools inadequate for required service in
basements and warehouses; 6) primary dependence on solid
streams to extinguish flammable liquid fires; 7) lack of
required salvage equipment; and 8) operations hampered
because company officers are required to stay on nozzle. The
report concluded that a material improvement in operating
practices is "essential to bring [the fire
department] up to the standards required in a city the
size of Houston."
 Fire struck
one of the 130-foot towers of the old Market House
in the 300 block of Travis on April 19, 1946.
Twelve firefighters were injured when a canopy
collapsed and fell 25 feet to the street. Chauffeur
R. T. Greer lost a leg that was mangled when he was
trapped under the heavy canopy. It took
firefighters two hours to extinguish the two-alarm
blaze. A bus terminal occupied the old Market
House.
Simultaneous
multiple-alarm fires struck on February 7, 1947, and left
only 13 fire apparatus to protect the city for part of the
day. One of the multiple-alarms was a 3-11 fire in a church
at 2406 Yale, and the other was a two-alarm fire at a drug
store on Broadway.
A mutual aid request
sent two engines and a bus load of Houston firefighters to
Texas City, 40 miles south of Houston, on April 16, 1947.
The S.S. Grandcamp was loading ammonium nitrate when
it caught fire. A violent explosion followed a few hours
later and blew the ship apart. The massive explosion killed
576 persons, including all of the firefighters of the Texas
City Volunteer Fire Department who had responded to the
fire.
Roy Whittlesey, a
12-year veteran of the department, was named fire chief in
May, 1947. He was 37 years old, the youngest fire chief at
the time of any major city in the United States, and the
first president of the firefighters' union (1940-1943) to
become fire chief.
Voters approved state
civil service for firefighters in 1947. This ended a
disruption of personnel that came about with the change of a
city administration under city civil service. Some
firefighters would lose their rank or be transferred every
time a new mayor and fire chief took over. Some even lost
their job. The new law, popularly known as 1269m, prevented
city officials from making major personnel changes after a
change.
The new state law
infuriated the administration. In retaliation, scores of
promotions were made the day before the law went into
effect. It was necessary to make so many promotions to reach
the firefighter "politicians" on the promotional
lists.
Firefighters began to
receive higher classification pay in 1947 when they rode in
a higher rank for a full pay period. Before, the department
did not pay firefighters riding for someone of higher rank
who was off on vacation or extended sick leave.
Fog nozzles, an
invention during World War II, were demonstrated in Houston
in 1947. Chief Whittlesey immediately ordered both
one-and-a-half-inch and two-and-a-half-inch fog nozzles. He
also ordered one-and-a-half-inch hose. The new nozzles and
hose were assigned to seven fire stations in residential
areas when they arrived the following year. The new
equipment was better suited for fighting fires in small
residential structures. Only two-and-a-half-inch hose and
straight-bore nozzles had been used before to fight
fire.
Charley Middlekauf was
named fire chief in 1948.
A huge annexation of
areas surrounding Houston in 1949 doubled the size of the
city. Reserve fire apparatus and grass fire trucks
(boosters) were put into several volunteer fire stations
that were swallowed up in the annexation. A citizen donated
a track of land at Berry Road and Jenson Drive for a new
fire station.
New fire stations from
the annexation were: No. 29 at Barkley and Winkler; No. 30
at 514 King and Helmers; No. 31 at 522 Crosstimbers and
Haygood; No. 32 at 822 W. 34th and Brinkman; and No. 33 at
7100 Fannin north of the medical center.
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