Posts published in July 2003

By P.J. WILLIAMS

Wednesday’s gray sky and drizzling rain seemed to match the mood of Regency Crossing residents as they waited to sift through debris in search of salvageable belongings. Approximately 70 residents are homeless after a fire broke out on an upstairs balcony Monday afternoon and destroyed sixteen apartment units at the complex at 197 Goodson Drive.

Fire investigators continued to work the scene Wednesday searching for the cause of the blaze which brought about 100 firefighters to the scene. Flames spread quickly once the fire reached a shared attic. On Friday, investigators said that the apparent cause of the fire was a child playing with fireworks, that shot from the ground to an upper balcony. However, the child apparently was not aware of the fire that he set, and went inside.

Fire crews took turns battling the blaze during Monday’s heat and humidity. About 6 ladder trucks and 12 pumpers answered this 3 alarm blaze, according to HFD.

Everyone escaped the fire safely even though several residents said they never heard a smoke alarm. “I didn’t even hear one of the alarms go off,” said Anita Horta. Horta and her daughter lived in two apartments in the damaged building. “My daughter, my grandson woke her up. They heard something outside,” she said. Other residents said they too did not know there was a fire until they heard popping sounds and went outside to investigate.

One firefighter suffered minor burns on his neck and was treated at a hospital.

After Monday’s fire, the apartment complex relocated residents to empty units in the Casa Verde complex up the street. The Red Cross provided victims with some assistance and the complex took up contributions to help the residents who had little more than the clothes on their back.

One man who had spinal surgery just a week earlier managed to get out with a box of important papers such as birth certificates and social security cards but nothing else. “My son was crying last night, ‘My play station is burned!’” he said.

Residents said that three of the damaged apartments were moved into only a month ago.

Several residents believed that many of the units could have been saved if the water pressure had been higher. Horta said, “One fireman climbed a ladder with a big hose but when he turned it on, it looked like a little child peeing.” Victims questioned why a pump was not placed in the pool located just feet from the burned units.

Others felt that the fire was fueled when the apartment manager broke out windows in all first floor apartments. “That just added oxygen,” Horta said. “In a panic like this everyone forgets what they are supposed to do.”

After a special school board meeting last Thursday night, the North Forest ISD board announced they had settled on one finalist for the position of superintendent of the district. The choice is Johnny E. Brown, 55, who is currently superintendent of the DeKalb, Georgia county school system.

Previous to his current position, Brown was with Birmingham, AL schools, and prior to that, was an assistant to Houston ISD Superintendent Rod Paige.

Brown is a native of Austin. He is quoted as being aware of the problems at NFISD, but “intrigued by the challenges.”

His appointment will not be final until a board meeting and action on August 14th.

By Gilbert Hoffman

A new conference center and hotel facility opened last Thursday night with an Open House for guests and the business community.

Featured speaker at the Open House was Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale of Gallery Furniture, who spoke about his career and the principles he has followed to build and sustain a successful business in Houston.

The hotel, on Airtex and I-45, is 109 rooms plus the new Pebbles Conference Center, with 7500 square feet of space for meetings and social functions. They specifically are hosting weddings, parties, banquets, seminars, and corporate events, according to marketing manager Betty Carr.

This event was sponsored by the North Houston Greenspoint Chamber of Commerce, as a Business after Hours/Mixer for members and guests in the business community. The next Chamber event is a Brown Bag seminar on Wednesday, July 23, entitled True Colors, presented by Brian Dooley of North Harris College. Call the Chamber at 281-872-8700 for details.

By P.J. WILLIAMS

Miracles do happen. Just ask Les Smith who is alive today because his heart attack occurred at the right place at the right time.

On April 27, the 57 year old Smith had a massive heart attack as he walked towards a shuttle bus after the Shell Houston Open. “He just fell over, literally like a tree,” recalls DeAnne Meaux, chief of the Eastex Fire Department. Meaux was only ten feet away from Smith when he collapsed.

The Eastex rescue team rushed to Smith immediately and began CPR. Luckily, the department has just received an Auto External Defibrillator (AED) and had been trained on the machine just seven days earlier. AEDs are portable devices that can restart a stopped heart using an electrical shock, much like similar machines in hospitals.

“The machine that we used, we’d just received it. And that was the first time we used it,” said rescuer Theresa Rogers.

The Eastex team shocked Rogers four times in order to revive him. “That’s a lot of electricity going through the body,” said Meaux. But by the time, the paramedics put Smith in the back of the ambulance he was talking to them. “You don’t normally have a patient who has gone into full arrest and within the next five minutes be able to talk to you and tell you his name,” said Eastex fireman Charles Livanec.

Smith had no prior indication that he had heart trouble. Six weeks earlier the doctor gave him a clean bill of health, and Smith had been working out at the gym twice a week. After the heart attack, doctors discovered that three of Smith’s arteries were blocked; two in two places. Doctors had to put in five stints in Smith’s heart to keep his arteries open.

Smith remembers nothing about his rescue. But doctors said that if he had had the heart attack anywhere else, he wouldn’t have made it. It was the Eastex rescue team who was only a few feet away with an AED that saved Smith’s life.

Smith soon began a search for his rescuers so that he could thank them. Three weeks after he was released from the hospital, Smith learned it was the Eastex Fire department that administered aid. Smith made a special visit to formally thank the team. Now, according to Meaux, he drops by the station a couple times a week to hang out.

The experience has been special for all involved. “That kind of thing doesn’t happen everyday,” said Rogers.

Meaux said Smith now actively encourages all his friends and neighbors to learn CPR and for more groups to acquire AEDs. Approximately 350,000 people die every year from sudden cardiac arrest. According to some statistics, fewer than one in twenty survives, but AEDs may be able to prevent as many as half of those deaths. Since the late 1990s many have worked to put more AEDs and trained personnel in public places. So far, several airlines, patrol cars and businesses carry AEDs.

The North Houston Greenspoint Chamber of Commerce is holding a Business After Hours/Open House at the new Pebbles Conference Center of the Guesthouse International Inn & Suites and Conference Center, at Airtex and I-45. The event will be on Thursday, July 17 from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., according to the Chamber. Guest speaker will be Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, of Gallery Furniture.

The GuestHouse International was formerly Shoney’s Inn & Suites. Additional information is available by calling Betty Carr at 281-876-7378.