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On January 10, 1970, a
spectacular four-alarm fire destroyed the block-long
warehouse of Lack's Wholesale Distributors. It took 29
engines and seven ladder trucks four hours to bring the fire
under control. The fire brought the largest response of fire
apparatus in the history of the fire department. Loss to the
warehouse, located at Baker and North San Jacinto, was
estimated at $1.5 million.
Emergency medical
service (EMS) was being assigned to fire departments across
the country during the '70s. Houston was one of the early
pioneers and accepted the responsibility in April, 1971.
District Chief L. O. "Whitey" Martin was assigned to put
together the new service. Houston's EMS started with 126 men
and 21 light van-type ambulances. One month into the new
service, driver James Walls, Jr. was killed when the
ambulance overturned after colliding with another vehicle at
an intersection.
 On October
19, 1971, a firefighter was killed and seven
firefighters seriously burned when a railroad tank
car of butadiene exploded at a derailment on Mykawa
Road. Water in the area was scarce, and hose lines
had to be relayed from the nearest hydrant a
quarter mile away. The tank car was exposed to the
roaring fire for 45 minutes before it blew apart.
Fire Inspector Truxton Hathaway, Jr., was taking
pictures down the tracks, and was killed when half
of the tank car rocketed into him. All total, 27
firefighters, six newsmen, two spectators, and a
police officer suffered burns.
The College Tuition
Bill was signed into law in 1971, after many hours of
lobbying by the Houston Professional Firefighters
Association. The bill exempted firefighters from paying
tuition and lab fees at state supported schools. Efforts to
professionalize firefighters through education began back in
1965 by a committee of the union.
Chief Cook was quite
forward-looking when he hired a fire protection engineer in
1972. (The position was very rare in the fire service;
however many fire departments began to hire fire protection
engineers over time.) The new fire protection engineer was
James A. Bland, Jr., who had donated much time to the fire
department for several years.
Fire destroyed the
75-year-old Travis Hotel in the 900 block of Congress on
November 29, 1972. The four-alarm fire was set by an
arsonist and spread rapidly through the old structure. One
guest died and 29 others escaped.
In the Spring of 1973,
Chief Cook resigned as fire chief amid allegations of
wrongdoing. (He and two codefendants were later acquitted in
a trial held in Fort Worth.) He went back to his old
position as assistant chief.
Jim Honea was named
acting fire chief after Chief Cook resigned.
A new fire code was
adopted by city council after months of development by Fire
Marshal Alcus Greer and his committee.
A four-alarm fire on
May 30, 1973, destroyed a mattress warehouse at 700 North
Drennan, and later on June 28, another four alarms had to be
pulled for apartments under construction at 700 Country
Place.
In October, the
firefighters' union objected strongly to the disparity in
pay between the firefighters and police officers. The mayor
justified the difference because firefighters had recently
been given more benefits to their pension system. City
council, after a week of debate, granted the firefighters
the same pay as the police.
City council approved
the first comprehensive fire code in November, which had
been drawn up by fire prevention personnel.
Chief Honea retired at
the end of 1973, and Assistant Fire Chief F. A. Hooker was
name acting fire chief.
The new year opened
with a bang for Houston firefighters. Three multiple alarm
fires occurred before dawn on January 1. An apartment
building fire at Pease and Chenevert took four alarms to
control, followed by two simultaneous fires four blocks
apart on Lyons Avenue near the Eastex Freeway. One of the
fires went to three alarms; the other fire to two alarms.
Engine 3 in southwest Houston moved up to a downtown station
on the first fire, and then dispatched to the 3-11. It ended
up pumping on lines going to both of the fires on Lyons,
probably the only time a pumper was used at two different
fires at the same time.
Two deadly fires in
February claim three lives. A body was found in the ruins of
a store in a strip shopping center at 5000 Richmond on
February 3, and two men were killed in a fire at the Bernart
Hotel on LaBranch three weeks later.
A new mayor was
elected in late 1973, and he named former fire chief W. O.
Hunter as fire chief, but the appointment was ruled illegal.
City ordinance required a fire chief from among the active
ranks, and Hunter had retired. The mayor then selected
District Chief J. S. Little in 1974 to be the fire chief.
Following two weeks of
debates over the department's promotion policy for EMTs and
paramedics, nearly one-half of the firefighters scheduled
for night duty called in sick on September 9, 1974. (Some
considered the action a strike and, if so, it was the second
strike in the department's history; the first strike
occurred in 1903.) Fire crews operated at half-strength for
two more days. City officials went to court, and a judge
issued an order for the firefighters to end the sick-out and
return to work. The "strike" ended with the night shift on
September 11.
 At noon on
September 21, a leaking tank car of liquefied
petroleum gas exploded in the Englewood rail yard,
setting off a massive fire that was not brought
under control until 7:40 P.M. the following day.
More than 100 railcars were burning across 20
tracks of the 4-mile-long rail yard. One railroad
employee was killed and scores of people injured in
the four-alarm fire, which caused more than
$14-million in property damage.
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