More equipment woes hit HFD vehicle fleet

HOUSTON – Video from a passing citizen highlighted more trouble for the Houston Fire Department’s fleet of fire trucks and ambulances.

According to officials with the firefighters’ union, the video was taken Saturday and shows paramedics pushing a disabled ambulance along the feeder road of I-45 near Crosstimbers Street.

“When this becomes the norm, there is a serious problem,” said Patrick Lancton.president of hte Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association. "At what point does this become absolutely inexcusable?"

Lancton says Medic 74, from station 74 on Aldine-Bender, was on its way back from a call when the crew reported it died. There was no patient in the back and the crew was not headed to an emergency at the time.

Lancton said more troubling was this particular medic unit was recently put back in service after undergoing repairs by the city’s Fleet Management Department.

“Working apparatus is an absolute necessity for the citizens of Houston when they call 911,” said Lancton.

Channel 2 Investigates has been chronicling the fire department's embattled fleet since last year, reporting on a string of equipment problems plaguing the department.

On Friday, KPRC reported several fire engines did not have working air conditioners, and earlier this month we told you about a different ambulance breaking down. That particular unit was assigned to President Donald Trump's motorcade.

“This is not just one apparatus, or two, or three, or four, or five; you're talking about double digits,” said Lancton.

The city has been purchasing new vehicles for the fire department, but Lancton said those purchases are not enough to outpace the number of aging fire vehicles.

We reached out and officials with the city’s Fleet Management Department, which handles maintenance and repairs of all city vehicles, responded to KPRC’s request. The department

Officials wrote the activation of an anti-theft system caused the ambulance to shut down.

“Back in January, FMD installed anti-theft ignition systems on the ambulances.  The systems have a chip in the key that is required to be present to allow the vehicle to start.  The codes the vehicle gave during trouble shooting leads FMD to believe that a spare key that had not been chipped may have been accidentally used which caused the issue and is working with HFD to close out the issue,” an email to KPRC said.

“Fuel Pump was shuts (sic) off due to an In-correct Immobilizer key inserted into Ignition Switch,” and “Ignition Switch High Voltage-- due to excessive cranking while the ECM does not recognize the In-correct (sic) Immobilizer Key,” were listed as the main causes in the city’s response.

KPRC asked how the medic unit was able to run for two hours before shutting down, who inserted the incorrect key and how the unit was able to start if the incorrect key was inserted in the ignition.

“I have conferred with our shop team and based on recently provided information, there may have been a loss of communication between the chipped key and the vehicle which activated the anti-theft device.  The vehicle has been taken to an independent repair facility for diagnosis as this is the only known occurrence of this type,” a follow-up statement said.
 


About the Author:

Award winning investigative journalist who joined KPRC 2 in July 2000. Husband and father of the Master of Disaster and Chaos Gremlin. “I don’t drink coffee to wake up, I wake up to drink coffee.”