Firefighter's union concerned about high demand and not enough crews during the freeze 12/25/2022 - 17 Companies OOS

Capttomo

Capttomo

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Sep 7, 2020
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For the life of me I cannot understand why Houston has never been able to gets its apparatus maintenance issues under control. This has been ongoing for the last 30+ years. In the late 90’s our instructors at the National Fire Academy actually used a series of investigative report videos from a Houston News station to illustrate how not to deal with an issue like this. I remember that we all viewed the Fire Chief then as totally incompetent and disconnected. However 35 years later despite massive fleet replacement initiatives , they still can’t seem to adequately maintain their fleet.
 
C

CFDMarshal

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Feb 27, 2010
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Metro Nashville has the same issue. It was better when the department had their own maintenance department but that was consolidated with general fleet maintenance and emergency services do not have priority. They had a firefighter injured the other day because the closest truck had no vehicle to respond. The crew was in quarters and had NOTHING, not even a chiefs car.
 
Capttomo

Capttomo

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Messages
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CFDMarshal said:
Metro Nashville has the same issue. It was better when the department had their own maintenance department but that was consolidated with general fleet maintenance and emergency services do not have priority. They had a firefighter injured the other day because the closest truck had no vehicle to respond. The crew was in quarters and had NOTHING, not even a chiefs car.
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Sad but you raise a very real issue. My department also blended the fleet maintenance of fire apparatus from stand alone to mix with all other police and civilian fleet maintenance. The results quickly evolved into what Nashville and Houston are facing. Thank God the Fire Chief was able to convince powers to be to go back to the original model of stand alone fire apparatus only maintenance shop and personnel. Things turned around so quickly and remain so much better. Thanks for sharing the Nashville situation. I hope things get better for them soon
 
E

entropychaser

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Jun 27, 2017
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fdhistorian said:
Per Houston Professional Fire Fighters

Companies closed for Christmas weekend:

Engines 1, 26, 60, 68
Ladders 16, 21, 26, 28, 34, 38, 51, 55, 59, 68, 69, 90, 102
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Interesting; if true.

Other than Engine 26, not a single company out of service on the east side of town....the Mayor's political stronghold.

Engines 60 and 68...Ladders 28, 38,51, 68, and 69 are literally the first and second alarm for miles and miles of million dollar homes and high-end apartments on the west side; not to mention a lot of the gung-oh firefighters on the job.
 
grumpy grizzly

grumpy grizzly

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Jun 27, 2007
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mack said:
Washington DC has had chronic fire apparatus maintenance problems in the past.
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Chicago also had those same problems. It was not uncommon to see the entire still alarm response in spares. Some stuff was 15+ years old, but new apparatus is coming in service, especially aerials. CFD had a great shop, in fact they were in "Backdraft". However they too were merged with the rest of the city shops and suffered with that. Rumor was the blue stuff (police)went to the top of the fix-it list.
 
grumpy grizzly

grumpy grizzly

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Jun 27, 2007
Messages
3,472
fdhistorian said:
Per Houston Professional Fire Fighters

Companies closed for Christmas weekend:

Engines 1, 26, 60, 68
Ladders 16, 21, 26, 28, 34, 38, 51, 55, 59, 68, 69, 90, 102
Click to expand...
654 square miles of responsibility and you put 13 of the assigned 38 truck companies OOS.
 
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