INSIDE OUR COVERAGE
Teens Arrested |
The Incident: Two Houston Bravest Die
A Message from Kim Smith's Sister
Post and View Condolences |
Memorial/Funeral Information
Related Links, Coverage & Online Resources
Frank Brannigan on Firefighting and Lightweight Truss Roof Construction
Compiled by Firehouse.Com News
Houston Arson investigators are filing murder charges
today against three adults and one juvenile suspect
in connection with the early morning multiple-alarm McDonald's
restaurant fire, 12602 Bissonnet that claimed the life of two
firefighters on Monday.
Pedro Isreal Loredo, 19, Juan Manuel Torres, 18 and Allen
Gerome Davis each confessed to breaking into the
restaurant and setting the fire to cover up a burglary, police said.
A 15-year-old Hispanic male has been referred to Harris County Juvenile Probation Department on a charge of murder. The 15-year-old was employed as an assistant manager at the McDonaldÕs restaurant.
An extensive investigation conducted by Houston Fire Department Arson Bureau, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Houston Police Homicide revealed that the juvenile suspect closed the restaurant and then gave a key to three accomplices who later returned to break into the safe.
Firefighter Lewis Mayo III, a 19-year-veteran, and
Firefighter Kimberly Smith, on the job since 1995, were both part of the first due fire attack team, said Rob Parry, a spokesman for Local 341 in Houston. They were assigned to Engine 76.
The alarm was sounded at 4:31 a.m. and Engine 76 arrived on scene eight minutes
later reporting
fire showing from near the back of the building, an official Houston Fire Department
statement said. The front portion of the building was reportedly
untouched by fire upon their arrival.
Mayo, Smith and Capt. Frank Cucino entered the building
and began the interior attack and initial search, officials said. More units began
to arrive and joined in the operation.
About 90 firefighters manning dozens of units eventually responded to the three-alarm
blaze. The fire was brought under control in less than an hour, officials said.
First Unit Makes Agressvive Interior Attack
According to a HFD statement, Engine 76 arrived on scene at 4:39 a.m. and
reported fire showing on the
roof near the back of the building. The front of the building was untouched
by fire. As is the custom of the Houston Fire Department, the crew of
Engine 76 made an aggressive interior attack of the building via a side
entrance and proceeded toward the rear in search of the seat of the fire.
A
short time later, a portion of the roof bearing a large air conditioning
unit collapsed, causing firefighters to become disoriented.
Evacuation sirens and an announcement to assume defensive operations
sounded shortly before the collapse. Cucino followed the
hoseline to safety, but the two firefighters from Engine 76 could not be accounted for.
No one was in the McDonald's at the time of the blaze, although fire department officials
have said they presume that buildings are occupied and interior attacks are the norm
if conditions dictate such actions.
Mayo, 44, was found by the sound of a breathing apparatus alarm and was pulled from
the fire a short time into the blaze. He was taken to an area hospital where he could not
be revived. He was found just feet from his nozzle, local reports said.
Smith's body was recovered several hours later, buried under rubble several feet
from a door. Dozens of firefighters
formed a 'wall of honor' in the path from the building to an awaiting ambulance, and then
along the streets as the ambulance passed, saluting the first female firefighter
to die in the city's history.
Smith, 30, was assigned to Engine 76, but not working on her regular shift day. Fire
officials said the crew may have become disoriented in heavy smoke and collapse
conditions.
AP World Wide Photos/Michael Stravato
An ambulance carrying the body of Kimberly Smith, 30, Houston's first female firefighter to die in the line of duty, pauses outside of a fire station on the way to the morgue in Houston, Monday, Feb. 14, 2000, so that dozens of her collegues could salute her.
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Soccer Coach Mayo Was Dedicated Family Man
Mayo entered the Houston Fire Department on June 29, 1981.
He is survived by by a wife, Terri and three children, Vanessa, 13;
Richard, 23; and Eric, 21.
Mayo was a soccer coach
for his daughter’s soccer team at Timberline Cy-Fair Soccer Team
and he owned a lawn business on his off days. He was a devoted
family man and loved being a part of the Houston Fire Department.
Kim Smith Remembered as Religious, Athletic 'Texas Girl'
Kimberly Smith entered the Houston Fire Department on April 11, 1994. She
is survived by her parents, Donald and Roseann Smith of Fountain Valley,
California. Her mother is originally from Woodsboro, Texas. They moved to
Huntington Beach, California in November 1978. According to Smith's
mother, "Kim was always a Texas girl and wanted to go back." Kim was also
engaged to be married later this year.
Smith was involved in the National Combat Challenge, a national firefighter
competition that tests skills and endurance using firefighter
simulated drills. Smith placed first in the Oct. 19, 1998
Western Regional Firefighter Combat Challenge in Las Vegas.
She was a also an active member in the Houston Fire Department’s "St. Florian Society," a
Catholic group of Catholic firefighters that plan an annual Firefighter Mass.
Smith volunteered as a Lector for the last two services.
Smith was one of about 90 female firefighters on the 3,200-member force,
officials said. The Houston Fire Department staffs 93 stations protecting
700 square miles.
The deaths come one day prior to the first anniversary of a Lake Worth, Texas
multi-alarm arson church fire that claimed the
lives of three firefighters in a collapse.
AP World Wide Photos/Pat Sullivan
Houston firefighters take a moment outside a McDonalds restaurant where two firefighters were killed when the roof collapsed on the burning building early Monday morning, Feb. 14, 2000.
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"Those two firefighters are in a better place now. They can serve God now,
because they have done their duty on Earth," Houston Fire Chief Lester Tyra said.
No cause has been determined for the 4 a.m. blaze, which destroyed the restaurant in the
city's southwest section. Investigators were on the scene, including police homicide
detectives and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Tragedy Hits Home Around the Country
Word of the tragedy in Houston quickly made its way across the country. As
Firefighters at LAFD's dispatch center in Downtown Los Angeles sat down for
their morning briefing, silence palled the normally jovial crew of
Firefighter/Dispatchers - most of whom had experienced their own share of
on-duty deaths.
AP World Wide Photos/Pat Sullivan
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Knowing that Houston FD's dispatchers would be among those most
seriously effected, they quickly pooled their funds to send some small manner
of comfort -- in the form of pizzas -- to their all-too-often forgotten brethren.
"It's just a small gesture, to let them know we care and share in their immense
loss" said LAFD spokesman Brian Humphrey. Like Fire Department's nationwide,
the men and women of the LAFD stood ready to offer comfort and support to an
agency that prides itself as being the third largest Fire Department in the
United States.
Flags at fire stations around the country were flying at half-staff in memory of the fallen
Houston heroes.
On Firehouse.Com, dozens of
condolences were posted within hours of the fire.
"I hope that all know that in this time of mourning we must
stick side-by-side," wrote a firefighter from Florida."No matter how hard we try to
do everything right, things will happen that test us.
I know that our fallen brethren will always be remembered and are truly in a better place."
Funeral and Memorial Arrangements
There will be a memorial at Rice Stadium, on the campus of Rice University, in the
Medical Center area of Houston, on Friday February 18 at 10:00 am. Funeral arrangements
will be posted here as they become available. Donations can be sent to:
- Last Alarm Club
Re: Memorial Fund for Engine 76
1907 Freeman
Houston, Texas 770009
Flowers may be delivered to Houston Fire Department headquarters located at
1205 Dart, Houston, TX 77007.
Funeral arrangements are currently pending and will be posted here as soon as they come available.
The last full-time Houston firefighter
to die at a scene had been Capt. Jackie Ludwick, 43,
who died battling a house fire in 1977.
Three firefighters died during the early 1980s in
separate traffic accidents en route to calls,
and volunteer Houston firefighter Ruben Lopez, 39, was killed in a 1996 house fire.
Steven Mayfield, 47, was the most recent
Houston firefighter to die on duty when he suffered
a heart attack during a Dec. 1998 training exercise near Dallas.
Arson Blaze Claims Two Houston Bravest
