More than 200 off-duty North Texas firefighters will be in Houston on Wednesday to help staff the city's fire stations during a memorial for four firefighters killed in a motel fire last week.
As many as 40,000 people, including hundreds of Houston firefighters, are expected to attend Wednesday's service at Houston's Reliant Stadium.
"The fact that we can honor the memory of these firefighters by allowing their brothers and sisters down there to attend the services is significant for our folks as well," said Lt. Scott Clumpner with the Dallas Fire Fighters Association.
Dallas received similar assistance during the funeral services for two of its own.
"We've gone through this rather recently and to be able to help out and let the firefighters in Houston mourn because of the tragedy they've had with four firefighters and allow them to go to the service, it feels like we're helping out our own," Clumpner said.
One-hundred-seventy Dallas firefighters are assisting Houston, along with 56 from Fort Worth and eight from Carrollton.
Friday's deadly fire at a motel and restaurant was the deadliest in the 118-year history of the Houston Fire Department. Four firefighters died while searching for people they thought might be trapped in the Southwest Inn.
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Killed in the fire were Capt. Matthew Renaud, 35, who had been with department for 11½ years; Engineer Operator Robert Bebee, 41, who joined the department almost 12 years ago; Firefighter Robert Garner, 29, who joined the department 2½ years ago; and Anne Sullivan, 24, a probationary firefighter who had graduated from the Houston Fire Department Academy in April.
