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Houston's only water
tower, which had operated at many major fires downtown since
1912, was retired from active service in 1965.
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 pumper companies were frequently manned by
only three men. Manning of ladder companies sometimes fell
to two laddermen.
The first newsletter
of the fire department was started by Chief Hunter in 1966.
It was called the Plug Line, and was an attempt to
keep the firefighters informed about happenings of and plans
for the fire department.
Two Pitman snorkels
were received in 1966. Snorkels were a pumper with a large
articulating arm mounted on the back. A platform attached to
the top end of the articulating arm had a large nozzle and
room for a couple of firefighters. The platform was elevated
at a fire, and the firefighters could direct a large stream
of water into upper floors of burning buildings.
A small fireboat was
launched on Lake Houston in 1967. The $32,000 vessel was
intended to respond both to fires along the shoreline and to
water rescues. Two firefighters were assigned to the
fireboat on each shift. Mechanical problems plagued the boat
continually, and it soon was moved to the Ship Channel to
assist the Captain Crotty fireboat.
In 1967, civil unrest
briefly raised its head in Houston. Several businesses were
fire bombed. The fire department quickly put together a plan
for response to "brush fires," code name for fires in areas
of civil unrest.
Companies would respond to a staging area.
From there, the companies would be escorted to the fire by
police leading and trailing the convoy. The black
businessmen stopped the unrest after only a few
fires.
It was during the
brief civil unrest that the third alarm committee of Local
341's Ladies Auxiliary came to a halt. The ladies on the
committee would serve coffee and doughnuts at third alarm
fires.
 They had a
panel truck housed at Fire Station No. 15. A couple
of the ladies would pick up the truck and drive it
to the fire. Others would respond directly to the
fire. The fire chief felt it was getting too
dangerous for the ladies to be out after dark, and
stopped the operation.
City council granted
an unprecedented 23-percent pay raise in 1967.
Assistant Chief C. R.
Cook was named fire chief in 1968 after Chief Hunter
announced plans for retirement.
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.
City Council passed an
ordinance forbidding fire works in the city limits in 1968.
The action followed a rash of fires on Fourth of July. Fifty
homes and a church were set ablaze by bottle rockets landing
on wood-shingled roofs.
Fire Prevention was given the task
of monitoring the firework stands set up just outside the
city limits around New Years and the Fourth of July. Fire
inspectors would stop anyone they witnessed coming into the
city after purchasing fireworks at one of the stands. The
violator would be given a ticket and the fireworks
confiscated.
The traditional red
color of fire apparatus was changed to white in 1969. It was
an attempt to make fire apparatus more visible at night.
Lighting on fire apparatus at the time was pretty
skimpy.
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 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 site were a
six-story drill tower and a two-story fire building
for recruit training.
A drafting pit was
located between the two buildings for performing the annual
pump tests of fire department pumpers.
A 50,000-barrel
gasoline storage tank exploded at Collingsworth and Maury on
December 13, 1969. The fire spread to several nearby homes
before the 4-11 fire was contained.
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