HOUSTON (Houston Chronicle) – Houston firefighters embraced just feet away from a blackened foundation where, just five years ago, they lost several of their own.
An inferno that ravaged the Southwest Inn on May 31, 2013, killing four and injuring 16 other fire fighters, remains the deadliest ever tragedy for the Houston Fire Department. In 2017, the death toll rose to five when a captain who battled the fire died of complications related to his injuries.
Half a decade later, the tragedy is no less poignant for families of the victims and members of the department.
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“1826 days … there’s not been one day I don’t miss them,” said Curtis Seamans, who was district chief at the time of the fire. “You should be absolutely proud of your son and your daughter because they are true heroes.”
Seamans addressed more than 50 family members and first responders at the site of the fire, which began that May 2013 morning at an Indian restaurant and spread to the adjoining motel complex which housed 45 residents.
As firefighters from Stations 51 and 68 rushed to put out the fire and the roof collapsed 12 minutes after the first fire crew entered the building. Four four firefighters died, and a rescue team that was sent in was trapped by a second roof collapse. Many of the fire fighters were injured during an extensive effort to rescue and extract their trapped colleagues.
Robert Bebee, Robert Garner, Mathew Renaud, and Anne Sullivan were the four firefighters who died just minutes after arriving and were caught beneath a falling roof section. Another firefighter who lead a rescue team, Capt. William “Iron Bill” Dowling, suffered brain injuries waiting for firefighters to pluck him from the burning wreckage, and had to have both his legs amputated.
Dowling died several years later due to complications from the injuries he received fighting the fire.
Executive Assistant Fire Chief Richard Mann was on the scene the day of the fire, although it looks entirely different now. The two-story hotel no longer stands, and all that remains is a slab of blackened concrete surrounded by a chain link fence. On cracked tan tiles lay five American flag memorials, one for each of the dead.
“This is five years, but it’s still very raw every time you’re here,” Mann said. “I can remember it like yesterday. I can still smell the scene. I can still smell things and hear things that we experienced that day.”
Criticism was directed at the Houston Fire Department’s response to the deadly fire that day. Federal and state fire investigators conducted extensive reviews of fire operations, and found fault with inadequate communications over HFD’s newly-installed radio system, an inadequate initial “size up “ of the fire scedne upon arrival, and well as the effectiveness of personnel accountability systems used to monitor the location of each firefighter.
The fire, which began in a kitchen ceiling that lacked a sprinkler system, burned for three hours before it was reported to the Houston fire department, federal investigators noted.
A state report found that a new $138 million digital radio system, implemented one month before the fire, made communications “difficult if not impossible.” Another equipment failure occurred, according to the report, with an electric personnel locating system that caused commanders to delay accounting for all firefighters on scene for 35 minutes after the first roof collapse.
A lack of knowledge over what actually occurred that day makes it hard to move on, said Mary Sullivan, Anne’s mother.
“I don’t know why, but this year’s just really hard,” Sullivan said at the memorial. “Especially when you have unanswered questions regarding what exactly did happen.”
Relatives of three Houston firefighters killed in fire, including Sullivan, have sued Motorola over the allegations that the radios the first responders used did not work properly.
The suit, filed in Harris County District Court, includes the family members of Robert Bebee, Anne Sullivan and Robert Garner. Robert Yarborough, another firefighter injured in the blaze, also joined the lawsuit.
Houston Fire Chief Sam Pena, who was not with the department at the time of the fire, said that some changes have been made to improve radio communications but that “there’s always areas of improvement.”
Sabina Bebee, Robert Bebee’s mother, said it’s easier now coming back to the site of the fire, although she still has a hard time believing what happened.
“Whenever we’re coming I’m looking at the clock as close as it gets to the time that he died,” Bebee said. “I always expect him to come up here running and saying, it’s a joke, mom.”
Sullivan and others said they will come back to the Southwest Inn on May 31 every year. But for them and many at the fire department, the lost firefighters will be remembered every day.
“We always say we will never forget and we don’t forget the sacrifices our brave brothers and sister made on May 31 2013,” said Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association. “No day is an easy day.”
St. John Barned-Smith covers public safety and major breaking news for the Houston Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Send tips to st.john.smith@chron.com.
