HOUSTON – Members of Houston City Council's public safety committee heard the radio transmission between firefighters as a roof collapsed at the Southwest Inn motel in 2013. The collapse led to the deadliest day in the history of the Houston Fire Department.
The brief audio transmission was played as committee members were briefed on what actions the Houston Fire Department is taking following the deaths of Matthew Renaud, Robert Bebee, Robert Garner and Anne Sullivan. Assistant Fire Chief Richard Mann delivered the presentation.
"Engine 82, we got a mayday, roof collapse, mayday, roof collapse, Engine 51 is inside," a firefighter can be heard saying on the tapes. "Engine 82 mayday, mayday. Command calling OEC we have mayday on our location get me a 3-11. Engine 60 deploy for the mayday."
Mann played the transmission as part of a slide detailing the timeline of events the day of the fire on May 31, 2013.
"So that's the radio communications that began what is the worse day in the Houston Fire Department," said Mann.
The remainder of the meeting focused on an internal report compiled by numerous HFD officials and previously released to news outlets. Mann recounted what lessons have been learned from the fire and what improvements need to be made.
"These are some of the areas we need to continue to enhance our training in -- incident command, risk management, decision-making, tactical and task level communications, accountability, mayday operations," said Mann.
Mann told committee members the fire had a three-hour head start on firefighters. Man said employees of the motel and restaurant noticed a burning smell hours before they spotted smoke and dialed 911.
The State Fire Marshal's Office and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health are also expected to issues reports on the line-of-duty deaths by year's end.
All three of the reports will help the city determine what added resources are needed to help prevent another tragedy.