History
The fourth largest fire department in the United States, the Houston Fire Department was established in 1838 with one station, Protection Company No. 1. and it grew to a volunteer fire department status with three stations by 1859. After having provided volunteer firefighting services for 57 years, the City of Houston Fire Department began paying its firefighters in 1895.
In 2002, the Insurance Services Office, which rates the capability of a fire department with regards to the maintenance of its fire apparatus, availability of water, training of personnel, etc., rated HFD 1/10, which is the highest rating a fire department can achieve.
Houston Fire Department also became the world's largest accredited fire department by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International in 2003.
As of 2012, 61 Houston firefighters have been killed in the line of duty. The most recent was on March 14th of Senior Fire Captain Thomas "Bill" Dillion, 49, was a 22 year veteran of the HFD, who worked out of Station #69. He died while responding to a small apartment fire.
Read more about this topic: Houston Fire Department
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