A 37-year veteran of the Houston Fire Department died around 6 p.m. Saturday, two days after collapsing outside a fire in south Houston, reports The Houston Chronicle.
About 60 firefighters mourned Capt. Dwight Bazile, 57, at a news conference late Saturday.
“This is gut wrenching. This will be a tough one to get over,” said Gaylon Davenport, head of the Houston Black Firefighters’ Association.
Bazile and his crew had been dispatched to a burning house in the 6400 block of England Street around 6:45 p.m. Thursday. Moments after responding to the fire, Bazile walked out of the house, sat on a stretcher and collapsed, according to HFD officials.
He was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where he spent two days in critical condition.
“I am saddened that the city of Houston has lost another one of its own,” Mayor Annise Parker said Saturday. “This has happened too many times before. It hurts deeply, and it never gets easy.”
According to the U.S. Fire Administration firefighter fatality report, Fire Captain Bazile fell ill shortly after responding to a residential structure fire with reports of people trapped inside. Captain Bazile was operating inside of the structure with other firefighters when he began experiencing a medical emergency. He was able to walk out of the burning building under his own power, but collapsed outside shortly thereafter and went into cardiac arrest. Captain Bazile was immediately treated by fellow responders and transported to Memorial Herman Hospital where he succumbed to his injury two days later.
Read more of the story here http://bit.ly/1DFD6nb
