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City of Bellaire, TX
713-662-8222
7008 South Rice Ave.
Bellaire, TX 77401
 
 

BELLAIRE FIRE DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATION

 

Our department is composed of twentyone fully paid professional fire fighters and fourteen dedicated volunteers. The Fire Chief and Assistant Chief/Fire Marshal are administrative leaders of the department. Emergency services are provided by three shifts working 24 hours, 365 days a year. The A shift is under the direction of Commander Deacon Tittel and Lt. Phil Nott. Commander Tittel’s major areas of responsibility are the coordination of the Department’s Emergency Medical Service. The B shift is under the direction of Commander Robert Kowis  and Lt. Albert Figeuroa. Commander Kowis has the responsibility of maintaining the station and emergency vehicles. The C shift is under the direction of Commander Michael Eisemann and Lt. Philip Dickinson. C-Shift's major responsibility is radio communication. The volunteer fire fighters are under the direction of Commander Rick Cortright. 

The Bellaire Fire Department is organized into five decision units: Administration, Special Services, Fire Suppression,Emergency Medical Service and Volunteers. All these decision units play a majorpart in the mitigation, preparation, response and recovery phases.

 

ADMINISTRATION

The administration of the department is comprised of Fire Chief Darryl Anderson and the Administrative Assistant, PatriciaMinuto. The administration is responsible for the planning, organization and evaluation of the department. Administration also functions as the emergency management coordinator for the city and twenty five percent of this function is funded bya Federal grant. Administration has the responsibility to develop and control the budget for providing emergency services for the city.

 

SPECIAL SERVICES

The Fire Marshal, Assistant Chief Alton Moses is the administrative head of the special services decision unit. He has the responsibility for code enforcement, plan checking, fire investigation, public education and record keeping.  He directs the public education program, the business inspection program, the "home fire safety analysis program" and the city’s Hazardous Materials Communication and Reporting Program.


EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES

When a medical emergency arises a fire department ambulance will respond immediately, day or night, usually within three to four minutes. A paramedic will begin a thorough assessment of the medical problem and will provide treatment and transport if needed. The Bellaire Fire Department provides a mobile intensive care unit manned by firefighters who are cross trained as paramedics. This unit is truly an emergency unit on wheels. Equipped with advanced life support equipment, paramedics provide specialized emergency care under the guidance of our medical director, Dr. Billy Miller. Many of our citizens owe their lives to this fine service. In addition to the medical unit, our leadpumper is a "first responder" unit equipped with first aid equipment and many different types of rescue tools.

During non-emergency hours, our EMS personnel provide blood pressure screening, maintain medical inventory and follow the procedures of the Infectious Disease Control program.

 

FIRE SUPPRESSION SERVICES

When a fire, rescue or hazardous condition occurs the Bellaire Fire Department responds with a command vehicle and a 1500 gallon-per-minute pumper. The WestUniversity Fire Department is automatically dispatched at the same time and responds with a 1500 gpm pumper and their ambulance. The Bellaire Volunteer Firefighters are paged and respond to the fire station to bring an additional 1500 gpm pumper and cascade vehicle. We also respond automatically to WestUniversity’s alarms.

Non emergency hours are spent in preparing for the emergency needs of our citizens. Maintenance of vehicles and equipment, training, physical fitness and pre-fire planning are daily requirements. Fire trained personnel also provide public education opportunities with guided tours of the fire station and speaking sessions at schools. Code enforcement in small businesses is a daily activity for the shift commanders.

 

VOLUNTEERS

The volunteer program is a very efficient way of providing needed man-power when emergencies do occur. Our volunteers are a dedicated group of our citizens who respond to the needs of the community. They do this by providing their time for training, responding to emergency calls in the middle of the night, and backing up the career personnel. They are a part of the community and can be seen at fire prevention booths during major events in the city. They meet at the fire station at 7pm on the first and third Mondays of each month.

 

COMMUNITY SERVICES

A fire department has always been considered apart of the community. Aside from emergencies, the Bellaire Fire Department plays a vital role. With 24-hour operations you may visit the fire station after working hours to purchase garbage bags, register your bicycles or check your blood pressure.

And children are always welcome. In fact, the Bellaire Fire Department opens its doors to the Girl Scouts every year for cookie season. Re-dubbing it the cookie station, entrepreneurial scouts capitalize on its central location, using the station for a pick up and delivery post. The Bellaire Lions Club does the same every year when large shipments of grapefruits arrive for a Christmas sale. Community groups are free to meet at the station, and firefighters encourage tours.

 

TRAINING

The complexity of our world with its myriad of synthetics, hazardous materials and high rise buildings makes fire fighting and emergency work today much more demanding than a few years ago. With the addition of emergency medical service, today’s modern firefighter must have physical skills as well as technical expertise to deal with the many types of emergencies we respond to. All of our paid suppression personnel receive extensive training in fire fighting, hazardous materials, rescue, and emergency medical service. To be proficient in all these areas, our firefighters are required to undergo many hours of initial training in order to be qualified to serve our community. The initial training of a firefighter/paramedic involves over 450 hours of firefighter training and over 1000 additional hours of emergency medical training. In addition to standard paramedic training our department also requires that individuals obtain training in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), Basic Trauma Life Support (BTLS), andAdvancedPre-hospital Provider’s Pediatric Course (PPPC). Besides the standard fire fighting andEMS training required of our personnel, many individuals have obtained more specialized training to become more skilled at their job. Several of our members are trained as law enforcement personnel,  have instructor certifications, hold arson certifications,  and fire inspector certifications. In order to advance their current certifications, individuals must complete a number of additional training hours, which include specialized training and college courses. To retain their certifications and keep up with the constant technological changes in our profession, each individual must also receive a number of continuing education hours each year.

Besides maintaining continuing education requirements, our department performs fire pre-planning of various buildings in Bellaire including high rises, warehouses, mercantile and shopping centers. Pertinent information is obtained about each building including drawings and special hazard information so we will be fully prepared in case of a fire.