HFD releases clarification memo about inspecting city buildings

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Days after ABC-13 broke a story about Houston city fire inspectors being ordered not to ticket city buildings, the fire marshal released a memo Friday underscoring the rules: That there is no double standard and inspectors should ticket all buildings that flout fire safety rules.

City officials initially called the the fire inspectors who sounded the alarm "disgruntled" and said their claims were untrue. But ABC-13 uncovered a memo that appeared to support the inspectors' charges.

That memo was dated in February and said to not ticket city buildings. Fire officials told us that a sentence in that memo was taken out of context and promised to clarify their policy.

And they did.

With the release of this two-page, three-part, eight-step memo, Houston Fire Marshal Richard Galva inspectors now know to fully inspect city buildings and can issue tickets if problems aren't fixed.

See both those memos here and see for yourself.

The February memo is here.

And the memo made public Friday, dated July 10, is here.

Also check out our three-part investigation from earlier this week: Day one. Day two. Day three.

We found out about this from an anonymous tip. And we encourage you to let us know if you see something that just doesn't seem right. Our online tip line is on this page to the right.

Why did we pursue this story? Two main reasons.

First, even the appearance of a double standard is a problem. It appeared that Houston business and building owners could be ticketed for safety violations but city buildings could avoid fixing potentially dangerous problems. That's not right.

And second, if fire code fixes aren't done in city buildings, that means potential danger. For the public. And for firefighters.

On a personal note, we were reminded this week about just how dangerous fire fighting can be.

The Ted Oberg Investigates team wants to express its sympathy as the Fire Department is dealing with the loss of Station 104 paramedic and firefighter Daniel Groover.

Groover died Wednesday. He fell while performing a search and rescue operation in a house in the 1400 block of Mistletoe Lane near Redbud.

We know that firefighters may be called to dangerous situations on any given day. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Houston Fire Department family in this tough time.