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The name of the Ship
Channel mutual aid group was shortened in 1960 to Channel
Industries Mutual Aid (CIMA).
The old Market House
was destroyed by fire on May 22, 1960. The 3-story brick
building occupied an entire block in Market Square and was
being used as a bus depot. It took five alarms to control
the fire, which soared over 100 feet into the air after the
roof collapsed. The building was built in 1904 to replace a
Market House that also had been destroyed by fire. It served
as the center of city government until 1939.
A record was set for
the number of calls in a 24-hour period on September 11,
1961. Houston firefighters answered 170 calls, most of which
were because of Hurricane Carla slamming the upper Texas
coast just south of Houston.
 On October
17, 1961, the sprawling Globe discount store at
3030 Woodridge was destroyed by fire. Two hundred
customers and employees were able to escape from
the 100,000-square-foot steel and concrete
building. It took firefighters four hours to
extinguish the five-alarm blaze. Loss was
$5-million.
At the beginning of
1963, a third shift was created and reduced the average work
week 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.
A new mayor was
elected in 1964, and Chief Bullock was out. The new mayor
picked Deputy Chief Joe Lobue once again as fire chief. A
dispute between the mayor and Chief Lobue grew near the end
of the year, and Lobue resigned. Assistant Fire Chief W. O.
Hunter was named fire chief after the resignation, and Lobue
returned to deputy chief.
Firefighters were
pressed into service spraying the breeding grounds of
mosquitos during an epidemic of encephalitis in August,
1964. Encephalitis is a potentially fatal disease spread by
mosquitoes. Malathion was poured into the booster tank, and
the mixture was pumped into ditches and other breeding
grounds. Months later, the pumps started to leak on the
older pumpers that had been used to spray the insecticide.
The malathion had deteriorated the pump packings, and the
packings had to be replaced.
Chief Hunter
instituted a home inspection program in 1964. Firefighters
would inspect homes in their districts and advise the
occupant of any potential hazards. Each company had signs
that were displayed on the apparatus during inspections.
Companies would remain in service while inspecting. The
program was not received too well by many of the
firefighters.
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