(Kevin Reece/KHOU 11 News)
The Houston firefighter who collapsed of an apparent heart attack last week while responding to an apartment fire, was honored Monday as an HFD veteran who didn’t lose his life, but instead gave it in service to his city.
Sr. Capt. Thomas “Bill” Dillion died March 14, 2012. He was approaching an apartment complex in West Houston when he suddenly fell to the ground. His fellow firefighters from Station 69 could not revive him. He was just 11 days shy of his 50th birthday.
While forensics tests have yet to prove the suspicion that a sudden heart attack took his life, statistics from the U.S. Fire Administration show he might be one more victim of a firefighter’s biggest enemy. On average, 100 firefighters die in the line of duty each year in the United States. The leading nature of fatal injury to firefighters is heart attack, on average accounting for 44 percent of firefighter deaths. Asphyxia and burns, in comparison, account for 20 percent of firefighter fatalities.
(See the full story at KHOU 11 News)
OTHER HEADLINES:
- CPS Hearing Held for Kids Found Living in Abandoned School Bus (KHOU 11 News)
- Deer Park Special Ed Teachers Resign Under Fire (KRIV 26 News)
- Houston Area Aroups Win 74 Percent of Texas’ Federal Emergency Housing Aid (Houston Chronicle)
- Panel Says Schools’ Failings Could Threaten Economy and National Security (New York Times)
- Neighbors Battle to Save Forest in Face of Flood Control Plans (KTRK 13 News)
- Texas Company Could Bury 1st Nuke Waste in April (Fuel Fix)
OPINIONS ON THE NEWS:
When Awareness Raising Becomes Controversial
- The Trouble With Awareness: From Kony 2012 and Jason Russell to George Clooney to Mike Daisey
(Alexandra Petri, Washington Post)
“That’s the trouble with making everyone aware of you. They stay aware. That big spotlight you all purchased together turns its withering beam back on you. Awareness is the snake that eats itself.” - The Hope And The Problem Of Mike Daisey And Kony 2012
(Michael Humphrey, Forbes)
“Many middle-class white men and women have set off across the world to make a difference. Some returned with a realization that the complexity of the problems they saw did not call for simple answers.“