About the Houston Fire Department

 

The Houston Fire Department, established in 1838 with just one station named Protection Company No. 1, expanded into a volunteer fire department with three stations by 1859. After 57 years of volunteer service, the City of Houston Fire Department started compensating its firefighters in 1895. Now the third largest in the United States, HFD is tasked with protecting life and property for over 2.3 million people across 654 square miles.

 

 

 

Firefighter/Paramedic

(1994 - 2009)

 

The first half of my career focused on performing critical tasks related to firefighting, emergency medical services, and specialized rescue work including:

 

Emergency Medical Services (EMS):

 

  • Administering first aid, basic life support, and advanced life support.

  • Providing medical care to sick or injured individuals, including patient history, physical examination, and implementation of appropriate treatment plans.

  • Operating equipment such as EKGs, external defibrillators, and bag-valve mask resuscitators in advanced life-support environments

 

 

Fire Suppression and Rescue:

 

  • Participating in emergency response activities, including fire suppression, rescue operations, and driving emergency response vehicles.

  • Ensuring safety during response by managing response locations and traffic control devices.

  • Protecting life and property during fire incidents.

 

 

Investigator/Senior Investigator

(2009 - 2018)

 

In 2009, I promoted into the Fire Marshal division of the department  as an arson investigator and later a Senior Investigator for the Houston Arson Bureau. An arson investigator plays a critical role in enforcing fire safety codes and determining the cause of fires.

 

  • Under the Fire Marshal's command, delivered leadership and expertise to support 24/7/365 operations investigating 1.4k+ fires occuring within the Houston city limits annually
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  • Oversaw case magement progress, from responding to the initial call to assisting with case closings sent to the District Attorney, managed crime scene's investigative and forensic processing and analysis. Prepared investigation documents, maintained records, and presented criminal trend reports to command staff.
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  • Liaised between local, state, and federal agencies on multijurisdictional investigations and participated in interviews with local/national news agencies for ongoing cases. Testified in crminal trials as a subject matter expert (SME) witness for the prosecution
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  • Trained, scheduled, and directed a seven-member team to investigate fire incidents related to homicides, insurance fraud, and mortgage fraud.
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  • Collaboratively devloped a five-year budget planning for $1M+ division

 

Select Achievements

 

  • Assumed leadership over the largest and busiest territory in the Houston area. Boosted case clearance rates and investigator retention after fostering a team approach to completing cases and revamping the case assignment process; received the Unit Meritous Achievement Medal (2009)
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  • Sought by command staff to locate a firefighter's child that had been missing for 4-months. Led investigative team that rescued the missing child that was located two counties away without incident; honored with Distinguished Service Medal (2012)
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  • Eliminated yearly contract fees and captured $30k in annual savings by building a team charged with securing a software program that met case management needs