Guest guest Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Two Houston, Texas firefighters died early Easter morning battling a house fire, numerous local media stations reported. During an aggressive interior attack of the one-story structure during which at least one person was rescued, command determined fire conditions were too intense and backed all crews out. During the post evacuation accountability check, the two firefighters were determined to be missing. An e-mail from FirefighterCloseCalls.com early Sunday indicated that early information was that the victims were a veteran Captain and a rookie firefighter, but the names and ranks of the vicitms had not been released by the Houston Fire Department as yet. A mayday was called, KHOU reported, but intense flames kept crews from going back in for search and rescue for up to 10 minutes. The exact timeline of the incident was not immediately available. KTRK reported that at 4:26am, Houston firefighters formed two lines outside of the home as the bodies of the fallen firefighters were removed from the scene by stretcher. Reports indicate CPR was started when the firefighters were brought out of the home, but they were pronounced dead at the scene. The cause of the fire remains under investigation as firefighters are providing their accounts of the incident to investigations, and preparing to mourn two firefighters killed in a single blaze for the second time this decade. Firefighters Mayo, 44, and , 30, were killed on February 14, 2000 when the roof of a burning Mc's restaurant collapsed on them. Three teens were convicted of murder in the arson and burglary that started that blaze. Including today's tragedy and the Mc's blaze in 2000, there have seven line of duty deaths in Houston in the last nine years, according to the Houston Fire Memorial site. In 2001, Captain Jay Jahnke, a 20 year veteran of the Houston Fire Department, died while fighting a high rise fire located in the Galleria area. Firefighter Kulow was killed in 2004 while battling a building fire, also as a fire intensified and he was unable to escape the structure. Captain Grady Burke died in a 2005 house fire. Firefighter Nation will have additional updates throughout the day as they become available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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