HOUSTON – Emails that appear to be written by a member of the Houston Fire Department's leadership show firefighters were told they had to use their own money and time to attend training for swift water rescues, because the city did not have training money.
The emails obtained by Channel 2 Investigates appear to contradict Mayor Annice Parker's claim that firefighters who perform swift water rescues get extensive training.
The emails' authenticity was confirmed by members of the fire department, who were not authorized to speak to the media. HFD has not disputed their authenticity.
"It's on your own time. No city funding," HFD Senior Capt. Keith Bobbitt appears to have written in March after a fire rescue team members asked to go to training.
Bobbitt's name appears on another email, too, from 2010 about a swift water tech class in New Braunfels.
"This class is on your own dime as far as lodging and food," the emails said.
Tuition was covered by another group so trainees would not have to cover that.
"As we have stated before, the city has no money available for training," the email said.
Retired Capt. Bert Withers supervised Rescue 42 until 2010. That's the same team whose boat capsized, leading to the deaths of three citizens. He said training was a problem back then, too.
"We knew we never had the training we really needed, which was swift water training," he said. "The only way we could do it is if we did it on our own."
Withers said his team trained on bayous that weren't flooding, lakes or other slow moving water but not swift water. Firefighters still with the department said that's where they still train.
"There's no comparison. When you have swift water, it's nothing like operating on the lake. On a lake, you don't have eddies that are pushing you around and trying to change the direction of the boat," he said.
Though the mayor maintains swift water rescuers get extensive training, Houston's fire chief seemed to contradict that at a June city council meeting when he spoke.
"We have a certain amount of training dollars. We prioritize our training based on risk, the number of people who do it and the frequency of the event. Then we apply the dollars the training. We have not had the opportunity to move this up the list," Fire Chief Terry Garrison said.
If you have a tip about this story or another story idea, email or text investigative reporter Jace Larson at jlarson@kprc.com or 832-493-3951.
25960024
25959850