HOUSTON — One man was found dead Thursday afternoon in a west Houston townhome fire, according to the Houston Fire Department.
Firefighters were called to the townhome in the 6400 block of Burgoyne Drive. near Winrock Boulevard around 3 p.m. When crews arrived, they were told a person was still trapped in the building.
Just 13 minutes later, crews reported that a man was found dead.
A district fire chief at the scene said he is frustrated there weren’t enough crews at the fire in the first critical minutes of the emergency.
But there is disagreement over whether there were enough firefighters at the blaze to help. Houston Fire Department Chief Samuel Peña says staffing had nothing to do with it.
Houston fire crews were dispatched to the west Houston townhome at 2:51 p.m. as smoke was pouring out of the top floor. Chief Peña says Engine 28 and Ladder 28 were first to arrive five minutes later. Including a district chief, there were nine firefighters at the scene by 2:56 p.m.
“After being there for 60 to 90 seconds there was a report of a person trapped,” District Chief Jay Garcia said.
He says more crews were needed at the scene to get to the man who was trapped.
“Tell me what that’s like when you’ve got a person trapped and you can’t get to him in time?” KHOU 11's Matt Dougherty asked.
“It’s disheartening,” Garcia replied. “Because you don’t have enough crews on scene to search every inch of the house, and it’s frustrating. These companies you call, they’re running emergency traffic and you call them and once they get here you still have to extinguish the fire.”
“So what would help in situations like this?” Dougherty asked.
“If we would be able to have more units in service and not have low manpower issues every day then maybe we would have more units here a little quicker,” Garcia said.
Garcia claims staffing impacted the emergency crews' response.
“It makes a big impact on something like this where there’s a victim inside and I have to call units and they’re coming in from even further away,” Garcia said. “So more units and more firefighters would help.”
Firefighter staffing has long been a primary complaint of Houston’s firefighter’s union.
Chief Peña said, in this case, crews arrived at the scene faster than the standard response time and says the house fire was adequately staffed.
He said there were no staffing shortages Thursday that would have impacted the response.
Once crews learned a person was trapped, Chief Peña said the emergency was upgraded, and two additional engines were sent to the scene.
At 3:09 p.m., Chief Peña said a notification was made that a person was dead.
There was no word on how the fire started or what led to the person's death. HFD arson and HPD homicide units are investigating.
This is a developing story and will be updated.