As the nation's fire service has as a whole, Houston's department and firefighters have grappled with a series of painful LODDs, WMD and terrorism, higher levels of paramedicine and training requirements, customer-service initiatives, enhanced training opportunities, rapid technology improvements, and many other factors that have made this profession much more complex.

But the significant changes in our evolution have taken place largely over the last five years, beginning when former Chief Lester Tyra began his administration in 1998. Tyra's legacy includes many positive changes, the most notable of which was the start of the fire department accreditation process.

Other changes that highlighted the departments push for accreditation included maintaining three safety officers on each shift and forming a medical strike team; updating SOPs, revising pre-fire plans and conducting high-rise surveys; establishing an emergency driving program and voluntary Saving Our Own classes and fitness program; and equipping each firefighter with a portable radio and purchasing 46 thermal imagers.

During this period of positive change, the department also experienced some very difficult times. The worst were the December 1998 death of Steven Mayfield from a heart attack during a training exercise at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and the deaths of firefighters Lewis Mayo and Kimberly Smith at a McDonald's restaurant fire on Feb. 14, 2000. The deaths of Mayo and Smith during fire operations sent shockwaves through the organization. A Houston firefighter had not died in combat operations not related to a heart attack or vehicle accident since 1971.

Additional challenges included deteriorating staffing on apparatus; difficult labor/management relations, primarily related to staffing and the lapse of the union contract in June 2000; a tough budget environment; and several high-profile media embarrassments that prompted the city council to initiate a department review by the TriData Corp., an Arlington, Va., management consulting firm.

The TriData report, released on Oct. 12, 2000, led to the resignation of Tyra and my appointment as interim chief. The report documented a department that was demoralized, needed improvements in various areas of the organization, and rife with political agendas among various individuals and entities.

Heavy toll of politics

In its report, available at www.ci.houston.tx.us/hfd, TriData readily saw how political activities on many fronts harmed the fire department over the years.

Houston has a strong-mayor form of government. Mayors serve a maximum of three two-year terms, and the fire administration typically changes when the mayor changes. Fire chiefs and command staffs are replaced often, resulting in a lack of continuity and stability. For example, I'm the seventh fire chief in my 24-year career with the department.

Needless to say, there was no honeymoon period when I was named interim chief. The environment was tense, and all stakeholders, including large segments of the community, elected leaders, firefighters and civilian employees, wanted change on many fronts in the department. It's important to note that all of these problems can't be laid at Tyra's feet. Many of the concerns listed in the TriData report had been developing inside the organization for years.

I knew that the stakeholders' confidence in the department had to be restored. After many years of poor leadership and management approaches, neglect by elected leaders and dysfunctional political agendas, both internal and external, the Houston Fire Department was in a quagmire.

Firefighter staffing levels and salaries were the most obvious casualty of Houston's political problems — about 75% of apparatus were operating with only three firefighters. Contract negotiations take place between the mayor's office and Local 341, with the fire administration serving in a consultant role. Local 341 became very frustrated with the progress of the negotiations in early 2000 and ultimately walked away from the bargaining table in May 2000. This action had a profound impact that has haunted the department to this day. The contract lapsed June 30, 2000. The police department continued to negotiate with the city and ultimately received a $74 million contract over three years.

Local 341 tried to gain approval of benefit enhancements during the Texas legislative session in 2001 and was unsuccessful, and negotiations between the union and the mayor's office continued sporadically to this day. The city is now asking Local 341 to come back to the table and resume negotiations, but the union hasn't responded.

The city's finances continue to deteriorate. Going into FY 2004 in July 2003, it faces a funding gap of more than $88 million. This financial picture casts a dark cloud over any chances of acquiring a superb contract similar to the police department's or receiving pay raises like the civilian work force in FY 03.

Stopping the spiral

The growing morale problems in the department and lack of confidence from government leaders and the community would have continued unabated if we didn't stop the downward spiral that had been developing during the last 10 years. The department needed to regain its confidence internally and externally.

As an assistant fire chief, I had approached Tyra to let me coordinate the development of a strategic plan that would provide direction for the department. The development of this plan was a collaborative effort throughout the organization to address numerous issues. I also asked to serve as accreditation manager and start the accreditation process.

Accreditation facilitates a comprehensive assessment of the organization for operational improvement and, if successful, would place the Houston Fire Department in an elite group. As a side note, all fire departments should pursue accreditation. It is worth the time and effort to review all functions of your organization.

Tyra also had the vision to begin another important pursuit: improving the city's ISO rating from a three to the ultimate goal of a one. The department also was charged with improving cardiac resuscitation rates. Again, these organizational goals were put in motion to restore stakeholder confidence in the department.

After becoming interim chief in October 2000 and ultimately chief in May 2001, I continued to push the department to pursue goals that would be verified by independent third parties and/or quantifiable data. It's one thing to say your fire department is one of the best, but can the leaders of your organization back up that claim with documentation? I wanted to be able to “talk the talk” and instill an esprit de corps in the department that had long been missing.

Triple Crown achievements

The Houston Fire Department became the largest accredited fire department in the world in March 2001 after completing a review by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International. Only 56 other fire departments in the world are accredited.

Houston improved its ISO rating from a three to a two in December 2001. The department wasn't satisfied with that rating and worked very hard to become a Class 1, which was achieved on April 1, 2003. There are only 39 Class 1 fire departments among the approximately 45,000 graded agencies. Houston is the largest Class 1 fire department in the United States and recorded the highest score, 97.01, in ISO history.

The paramedic squad program, implemented in December 2000, ultimately improved cardiac resuscitation rates, which are now the best in the world. The rates have been checked meticulously against standard medical research protocols under the direction of Dr. David Persse, Houston Medical Director. All too often, the approaches that EMS providers use in determining these rates lead to apple and orange comparisons, much like those publicized by USA Today earlier this year. All EMS systems should follow established medical research standards to evaluate various performance benchmarks.

These achievements can be likened to the fire service's Triple Crown. There were many people inside and outside the department who said that a department of Houston's size with its past track record could never achieve these goals. Such limitations are self-imposed if we allow ourselves to be defeated before we even leave the starting gate. I'm very proud of our firefighters and civilians that made these dreams come to fruition.

There's no doubt that these accomplishments will affect other areas in the department, such as the eventual adoption of a labor contract that justifiably rewards Houston's firefighters through improved pay and other benefit enhancements. It is the American way to reward those who overcome difficult challenges, and these firefighters have done just that. Mrs. Smith has no desire to reward public servants who don't work to meet her expectations. The members of the Houston Fire Department have not only met Mrs. Smith's expectations, they have exceeded them through their hard work.

LODD prevention

While the triumphs listed above are wonderful, the most defining moment of the department's struggle to improve was the loss of a firefighter in an October 2001 residential high-rise fire, which followed the loss of three firefighters between 1998 and 2000.

Such losses over a relatively short period were unheard of in our department. It's every fire chief's worst nightmare to lose a firefighter on your watch. The plea of Capt. Jay Paul Jahnke's widow at his funeral moved the mayor, who made the decision to staff all engine and ladder companies with four firefighters immediately. This required a $25 million annual increase to the budget.

The fire department initiated an internal review of the Four Leaf Tower fire, where Jahnke died, and worked with NIOSH and the state fire marshal's investigative teams to determine what led to this tragic incident. The investigative teams reviewed firefighter statements taken by arson investigators a few hours after the fire, subsequent firefighter interviews, citizen and media videos, fire modeling, codes, and other research.

The internal report, which was issued on July 5, 2002, included 27 recommendations. The state fire marshal's office released a report in July 2002, listing 31 recommendations. NIOSH released its report in October 2002, with 11 recommendations.

All three reports cited many factors that are all too common in most firefighter LODDs. I was adamant that our internal report was not going to be sugarcoated to avoid putting the family business in public view. It was important to tell the whole story, good and bad, of what occurred in the early morning hours of Oct. 13, 2001.

The fire service must be willing to look at itself and resolve to make needed changes. We can't only deal with those LODD recommendations that firefighters are comfortable with addressing and ignore those that may not show us in a good light. Too many LODDs keep occurring for the same reasons, time and time again. Until all departments move deliberately to make substantive changes in how they approach emergency operations, we will continue attending far too many firefighter funerals. [Ed.: For more information on Houston's LODD prevention program, see “Led to safety,” February, available at www.firechief.com.]

Health and safety

The goal of improving emergency operations in Houston as an outcome to the LODDs of four honorable firefighters is moving ahead earnestly.

A three-year firefighter safety plan has been finalized that addresses all of the recommendations in the McDonald's and Four Leaf Tower reports, as well as fitness, driver safety and WMD issues. The safety plan is posted on the department's Web site so all members will know what we're doing as an organization to improve firefighter health and safety.

Highlights of the plan include:

• Review of the McDonald's and Four Leaf Tower fires with every battalion district.
• Mandatory RIT training for all 3,069 firefighters assigned to emergency operations.
• Incident command training center to enhance strategic thinking.
• Monthly simulated fires in high-rise buildings. Drill towers are deficient in preparing firefighters for these challenging incidents.
• More air pack harnesses to facilitate quick donning of 30-minute or one-hour air packs.
• New personnel accountability system.
• Operational readiness inspections to verify firefighter knowledge of SOPs, apparatus and equipment.
• Quality assurance reviews of near misses, fire deaths, and most multiple-alarm fires.
• Development of a plan, using employee workgroups, to meet the recommendations of NFPA 1710.

In the past five years, the Houston Fire Department has achieved the highest honors our profession provides, even as it suffered through four LODDs and other difficulties. These highs and lows have set a course for excellence in the years ahead. Our achievements put us in a better position to deal with significant challenges facing the department.

The true test of any organization is how it approaches adversity. The most common approaches include ignoring the challenges; making minor cosmetic tweaks to appease various stakeholders; or fundamentally revising the organization to move forward with an articulated vision, mission, values and goals that aggressively attack the problems.

Houston has chosen the latter option. The stakes are much too high to do anything less. How is your fire department approaching its own challenges?

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Chris Connealy is the fire chief of the Houston Fire Department, where he has worked for 24 years. He has a bachelor's degree in fire administration and a master's degree in executive fire leadership. Connealy is a National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer graduate and a 2002 Harvard Fire Executive Fellow.

HFD SNAPSHOT

Established in 1838, the Houston Fire Department is the fourth-largest and fourth-busiest fire department in the United States. With a budget of $283 million, it protects 617 square miles populated by about 2 million citizens.

A full-service department, Houston is staffed by 3,462 paid firefighters and 300 volunteers in 88 fire stations in 21 districts. It's also home to Houston's Medical Strike Team and is the largest fire department in the world accredited by the Commission of Fire Department Accreditation International.

In addition to being the petrochemical capital of the world, Houston has hazards that include one of the largest ports in the world, two major airports, NASA and the largest medical center complex in the country.

Its force includes:

• 83 engine companies
• 90 EMS units
• 2 heavy-rescue units
• 1 command van
• 1 rehab unit
• 37 ladder companies
• 3 hazmat units
• 11 booster trucks
• 15 boats
• ARFF vehicles for two airports