Day of Remembrance highlights connection between JSC and Houston Fire Department
2014-01-22
On Jan. 30, NASA commemorates the men and women who perished serving the agency’s space exploration program by celebrating their lives, bravery and advancement in human spaceflight.
Our agency is not alone in mourning the loss of those who have served our country. In fact, sometimes sadder times can highlight the similarities between organizations with seemingly little in common. And although you won’t find Houston Fire Department (HFD) firefighters breaching the cosmos in spacesuits, they breach potentially dangerous situations wearing their own kind of protective gear to save citizens, homes and businesses. In serving our country, they too are prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice.
The deadliest day in the HFD’s history, unfortunately, wasn’t that long ago: May 31, 2013. Four firefighters from Stations 51 and 68 lost their lives battling what started as a small restaurant fire, but quickly turned into an inferno that engulfed a hotel. The building experienced a catastrophic failure of the roof that ended the lives of Capt. EMT Matthew Renaud, 35, of Station 51; Engineer Operator EMT Robert Bebee, 41, of Station 51; firefighter EMT Robert Garner, 29, of Station 68; and probationary firefighter Anne Sullivan, 24, of Station 68.
Show of support
“Johnson Space Center is in the Houston Fire Department’s jurisdiction, and JSC has had a longstanding and very strong relationship with HFD,” said Ronald Lee, chief of the JSC Office of Emergency Management. “HFD Station 72 used to be located on-site in Building 25, and they would support JSC and the local community. When HFD outgrew Building 25 and was looking to build a new fire station, NASA gave the city of Houston the land that the current HFD Station 72 is located on—across from Space Center Intermediate on Saturn Lane.”
Even now located technically off-site, the fire station still supports JSC.
“HFD responds to all fire alarms on-site and at Sonny Carter Training Facility,” Lee said. “And HFD medic units respond to all medical emergencies at Sonny Carter Training Facility and all after-hours medical calls at JSC.”
JSC did not forget its friends after the tragedy that stole the lives of four HFD firefighters. If anything, the bond grew deeper.
“When the four Houston firefighters died, we flew four American flags over Mission Control Center at half-staff,” Lee said. “Our local Houston Fire Stations, 71, 72 and 94, along with the Webster Fire Department and Nassau Bay Fire Department and several hundred JSC employees, took part in the ceremony to honor those four brave firefighters.”
Those four flags were later presented to the families of the fallen heroes.
The support grew from there. A team of folks from JSC that included JSC fire protection specialists, Office of Emergency Management personnel and many of the JSC family who serve as volunteer firefighters in the local community attended the larger memorial service held at Reliant Stadium. Dom Del Rosso of Aircraft Operations also arranged and coordinated the flyover of four NASA T-38s that kicked off the procession of firefighters who marched into the touching memorial service in the missing man formation.
Bill McArthur, NASA astronaut and JSC director of Safety and Mission Assurance, went to HFD Station 68, where he met with the crews of Stations 68 and 51. He presented each station a montage and spent several hours visiting with the firefighters and some of the family of the fallen.
Coming to our house
On Dec. 3, 2013, firefighters were back at JSC. This time, however, it was simply for JSC to give thanks and feed their curiosity of human spaceflight. Patrick Buzzard with the JSC Protective Services Division gave a VIP tour to firefighters of Stations 51 and 68. The tour included the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL), Mission Control Center, historic mission control and the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility.
The tour was a hit for the guests who, not surprisingly, are NASA fans through and through. There was also a shared respect for the inherently risky work each organization does.
“I’ve been a firefighter for over 12 years, and I’ve been with Houston for the past five,” said firefighter Mark Van Berschot. “There’s obviously some risk that comes into play that everybody has to accept, and that’s part of their job—and they accept it and move on.”
Van Berschot most enjoyed seeing the NBL and the training NASA does in the 6.2 million gallons of water.
“I loved the pool,” Van Berschot said. “I’m a diver, so the pool was very interesting. I was telling the other people, my dream job is being one of the safety divers in there.”
Firefighter and Senior Captain Kelly Baudat enjoying seeing the JSC family her team has often supported up close.
“My experience before is anytime we’ve worked at the stations down here, anytime we’ve made a call, everybody’s just been great—like we’re an extended part of the community—and invite us in and make us feel at home,” Baudat said. “Since our tragedy, we’ve just felt amazing support.”
During her more laid-back visit to JSC, Baudat noticed many similarities between firefighting and space exploration.
“I think there’s a lot of parallel anytime that you sort of push forward or make sacrifices to better either your community or your country,” Baudat said. “There are probably some people here that say, ‘I would never run into a burning building,’ or some of us that say, ‘I would never launch myself into space.’ But the similarities are there … that you wouldn’t trade anything, even though we lost our brothers and sisters.
“It’s just nice to have the inside perspective. I think that you get to see even more of the parallels with all the teamwork, as far as training goes with the astronauts and what they have to do to go to space. They have their whole complement of intricate things that they have to train on, and firefighting is very similar to that. It’s neat to see their toys and what they ‘play’ with, and what they have to do to be together. It’s good to see the people with the same issues and problems and how they overcome.”
The two groups learned a lot from each other that day, and it also reinforced the continuity of a partnership that has been many years in the making.
“The Houston Fire Department has come to support NASA on countless fire alarms, ambulance runs and other difficult times in JSC’s past,” Lee said. “This was a time for NASA to show support to Houston Fire Department in their time of grief.”
Remembering …
On Jan. 30, NASA will commemorate the men and women lost in the pursuit of space exploration.
These astronauts and their families will always be a part of the NASA family, and we will continue to honor their contributions. Our Day of Remembrance commemorates not only the men and women lost in NASA’s space exploration program and their courage, but celebrates human space exploration since then.
Apollo 1 (Jan. 27, 1967): Astronauts Roger B. Chaffee, Virgil “Gus” Grissom and Edward H. White Jr.
Challenger (Jan. 28, 1986): Astronauts Francis R. “Dick” Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Judith A. Resnik, Ronald E. McNair, Ellison S. Onizuka, Gregory B. Jarvis and S. Christa McAuliffe
Columbia (Feb. 1, 2003): Astronauts Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel B. Clark and Ilan Ramon
Catherine Ragin Williams
NASA Johnson Space Center
Our agency is not alone in mourning the loss of those who have served our country. In fact, sometimes sadder times can highlight the similarities between organizations with seemingly little in common. And although you won’t find Houston Fire Department (HFD) firefighters breaching the cosmos in spacesuits, they breach potentially dangerous situations wearing their own kind of protective gear to save citizens, homes and businesses. In serving our country, they too are prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice.
The deadliest day in the HFD’s history, unfortunately, wasn’t that long ago: May 31, 2013. Four firefighters from Stations 51 and 68 lost their lives battling what started as a small restaurant fire, but quickly turned into an inferno that engulfed a hotel. The building experienced a catastrophic failure of the roof that ended the lives of Capt. EMT Matthew Renaud, 35, of Station 51; Engineer Operator EMT Robert Bebee, 41, of Station 51; firefighter EMT Robert Garner, 29, of Station 68; and probationary firefighter Anne Sullivan, 24, of Station 68.
Show of support
“Johnson Space Center is in the Houston Fire Department’s jurisdiction, and JSC has had a longstanding and very strong relationship with HFD,” said Ronald Lee, chief of the JSC Office of Emergency Management. “HFD Station 72 used to be located on-site in Building 25, and they would support JSC and the local community. When HFD outgrew Building 25 and was looking to build a new fire station, NASA gave the city of Houston the land that the current HFD Station 72 is located on—across from Space Center Intermediate on Saturn Lane.”
Even now located technically off-site, the fire station still supports JSC.
“HFD responds to all fire alarms on-site and at Sonny Carter Training Facility,” Lee said. “And HFD medic units respond to all medical emergencies at Sonny Carter Training Facility and all after-hours medical calls at JSC.”
JSC did not forget its friends after the tragedy that stole the lives of four HFD firefighters. If anything, the bond grew deeper.
“When the four Houston firefighters died, we flew four American flags over Mission Control Center at half-staff,” Lee said. “Our local Houston Fire Stations, 71, 72 and 94, along with the Webster Fire Department and Nassau Bay Fire Department and several hundred JSC employees, took part in the ceremony to honor those four brave firefighters.”
Those four flags were later presented to the families of the fallen heroes.
The support grew from there. A team of folks from JSC that included JSC fire protection specialists, Office of Emergency Management personnel and many of the JSC family who serve as volunteer firefighters in the local community attended the larger memorial service held at Reliant Stadium. Dom Del Rosso of Aircraft Operations also arranged and coordinated the flyover of four NASA T-38s that kicked off the procession of firefighters who marched into the touching memorial service in the missing man formation.
Bill McArthur, NASA astronaut and JSC director of Safety and Mission Assurance, went to HFD Station 68, where he met with the crews of Stations 68 and 51. He presented each station a montage and spent several hours visiting with the firefighters and some of the family of the fallen.
Coming to our house
On Dec. 3, 2013, firefighters were back at JSC. This time, however, it was simply for JSC to give thanks and feed their curiosity of human spaceflight. Patrick Buzzard with the JSC Protective Services Division gave a VIP tour to firefighters of Stations 51 and 68. The tour included the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL), Mission Control Center, historic mission control and the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility.
The tour was a hit for the guests who, not surprisingly, are NASA fans through and through. There was also a shared respect for the inherently risky work each organization does.
“I’ve been a firefighter for over 12 years, and I’ve been with Houston for the past five,” said firefighter Mark Van Berschot. “There’s obviously some risk that comes into play that everybody has to accept, and that’s part of their job—and they accept it and move on.”
Van Berschot most enjoyed seeing the NBL and the training NASA does in the 6.2 million gallons of water.
“I loved the pool,” Van Berschot said. “I’m a diver, so the pool was very interesting. I was telling the other people, my dream job is being one of the safety divers in there.”
Firefighter and Senior Captain Kelly Baudat enjoying seeing the JSC family her team has often supported up close.
“My experience before is anytime we’ve worked at the stations down here, anytime we’ve made a call, everybody’s just been great—like we’re an extended part of the community—and invite us in and make us feel at home,” Baudat said. “Since our tragedy, we’ve just felt amazing support.”
During her more laid-back visit to JSC, Baudat noticed many similarities between firefighting and space exploration.
“I think there’s a lot of parallel anytime that you sort of push forward or make sacrifices to better either your community or your country,” Baudat said. “There are probably some people here that say, ‘I would never run into a burning building,’ or some of us that say, ‘I would never launch myself into space.’ But the similarities are there … that you wouldn’t trade anything, even though we lost our brothers and sisters.
“It’s just nice to have the inside perspective. I think that you get to see even more of the parallels with all the teamwork, as far as training goes with the astronauts and what they have to do to go to space. They have their whole complement of intricate things that they have to train on, and firefighting is very similar to that. It’s neat to see their toys and what they ‘play’ with, and what they have to do to be together. It’s good to see the people with the same issues and problems and how they overcome.”
The two groups learned a lot from each other that day, and it also reinforced the continuity of a partnership that has been many years in the making.
“The Houston Fire Department has come to support NASA on countless fire alarms, ambulance runs and other difficult times in JSC’s past,” Lee said. “This was a time for NASA to show support to Houston Fire Department in their time of grief.”
Remembering …
On Jan. 30, NASA will commemorate the men and women lost in the pursuit of space exploration.
These astronauts and their families will always be a part of the NASA family, and we will continue to honor their contributions. Our Day of Remembrance commemorates not only the men and women lost in NASA’s space exploration program and their courage, but celebrates human space exploration since then.
Apollo 1 (Jan. 27, 1967): Astronauts Roger B. Chaffee, Virgil “Gus” Grissom and Edward H. White Jr.
Challenger (Jan. 28, 1986): Astronauts Francis R. “Dick” Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Judith A. Resnik, Ronald E. McNair, Ellison S. Onizuka, Gregory B. Jarvis and S. Christa McAuliffe
Columbia (Feb. 1, 2003): Astronauts Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel B. Clark and Ilan Ramon
Catherine Ragin Williams
NASA Johnson Space Center
Four American flags were flown on top of mission control in honor of the four HFD firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty. Image Credit: NASA
At left, JSC fire protection specialists Burl McMann, Mark Key and Roger Teague participate in the memorial service at Reliant Stadium. Image Credit: NASA
From left, HFD Senior Fire Captain Kelly Baudat and JSC Director of Safety and Mission Assurance Bill McArthur at Fire Station 68. Image Credit: NASA
McArthur presents NASA montages to the crews of HFD Fire Stations 51 and 68, as well as some of the family of the fallen firefighters. Image Credit: NASA
The firefighters come full circle back to JSC for a VIP tour, and are here enjoying the sights of the NBL. Image Credit: NASA
HFD firefighters pause for a picture in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, along with Patrick Buzzard, third from right, of JSC's Protective Services Division. Image Credit: NASA