A 37-year veteran of the Houston Fire Department died around 6 p.m. Saturday, two days after collapsing outside a fire in south Houston.
About 60 firefighters mourned Capt. Dwight Bazile, 57, at a news conference late Saturday.
"This is gut wrenching. This will be a tough one to get over," said Gaylon Davenport, head of the Houston Black Firefighters' Association.
Bazile and his crew had been dispatched to a burning house in the 6400 block of England Street around 6:45 p.m. Thursday. Moments after responding to the fire, Bazile walked out of the house, sat on a stretcher and collapsed, according to HFD officials.
He was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he spent two days in critical condition.
"I am saddened that the city of Houston has lost another one of its own," Mayor Annise Parker said Saturday. "This has happened too many times before. It hurts deeply, and it never gets easy."
An autopsy will be conducted, but Parker said it appears Bazile suffered a "cardiac event."
"He's survived by the 4,000 members of Houston Fire Department and his family. He died in the line of duty," HFD Chief Terry Garrison said.
Survivors include his mother Charlotte Felder, his wife Pamela Bazile, and two children.
Bazile joined the Houston Fire Department in October 1977, being promoted to captain in 2008. He served most of his career with Station 46 in southeast Houston.
He was part of a 2008 lawsuit accusing the city of discriminating against black firefighters by relying on a promotion test that was racially biased.
Lawyers for the city eventually negotiated a settlement, awarding captain's rank and back pay to Bazile and the other firefighters.
Because of the lawsuit, a new exam was introduced.
