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Greater Houston Fire Battalion is a organization of individuals with a common interest in the Fire Department and Fire/EMS activities throughout the Houston area. Membership is $20 paid annually. The group meets every other month, usually on a Saturday. Fire photos and descriptions are emailed out on a regular basis; and the end of year Houston FD Multiple-Alarm Report is also sent to current members.


H.F.D. Multiple-Alarm Mid-Year Report

Houston Fire Department multiple-alarm activity for the first six months of 2011 is on a bit slower pace by comparison with recent years. There have been 27 multiples so far in 2011, so 54 would be expected for the full year if the current pace is maintained. The average number of multiple-alarm fires over the past decade is 64.

Some facts about these large fires this year:

  1. The number of 3-11 fires so far is 8, above normal for the period.
  2. Of 27 multiples, 23 (or 85%) have involved apartment buildings, a trend well-entrenched in recent years.
  3. Mondays and Saturdays have been the "hot" days of the week, accounting for 19 of the 27 fires.
  4. Evening and night fires ( 6 pm to 6 am) have accounted for 18 of the 27 fires.
  5. District 28 has had the most multiples with 6, followed closely by District 68 with 5. Districts 4, 5, 6, and 83 have each had 3 multiples. These numbers reflect the geographic districts involved, not necessarily which chiefs pulled additional alarms.
  6. The "B" shift is running away with much of the activity with 13 of the 27 fires, while the "C" shift has only had 3.
  7. The only 4-11 so far was before dawn on May 9 at an apartment complex at Meadowglen & S. Gessner.


 

Recent Photos

    (All Photos)
  • Club Creek - 12/27/11
    Fire Image
    The fire pictured here shows Ladder 68 raised for protection of a potential exposure during a 2-11 at 9950 Club Creek just after midnight. This blaze apparently started in a apartment's laundry building which shared a wall with an apartment building into which fire spread. Quick work by HFD kept it from spreading past the first apartments. -- Tom McDonald
  • Litchfied - 12/26/11
    Fire Image
    An HFD crew advances a 2 1/2 inch handline into a second floor window during a tough fight with a stubborn blaze that destroyed most of an 8-unit apartment building in far west Houston. The 2-11 fire came in around 10 PM at 160 Litchfield, a dead-end street off Memorial Drive. Neighbors said they thought a barbecue pit gas tank sparked the fire but the cause is under investigation. -- Tom McDonald