Twin Coves Follow Up Episode
This is Twin Coves Part 2 a follow to the original podcast that focused on the event itself. This episode looks at the aftermath and the response.
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The Twin Coves Fire
On August 21, 1981, an early morning fire breaks out in a large Dallas home. This is the story of the men who fought the fire and the tragic consequences of that incident.
Firefighters Byron Temple & Creston Whitaker
A few months ago, my good friend Rett Blankenship approached me with an idea. When Rett was a Captain at DFD Station 11 on Cedar Springs he had worked with Byron Temple, a well known cut-up who kept his co-workers in stitches most of the time, but who also had an amazing 25 year run as a paramedic on 711, one of our busier ambulances. He suggested we meet Byron at the museum for a chat, along with another firefighter whose career had paralleled Byron’s in some ways, and who had been a professional athlete before joining the department – Creston Whitaker. So the four of us, along with my co-host Mike Otto, shared a little coffee and conversation one morning. You can hear their story by clicking play on the podcast below.
Creston with Los Angeles Rams 
Byron with Louie Bright 
Creston with New Orleans Saints 
Paramedic class #19
Captain Pat Murphy
Captain Pat Murphy is a highly decorated veteran who served 40 years with the Dallas Fire Department. In this podcast he joins Chuck Hampton, Mike Otto, and Mike Hoskins around the kitchen table at the Dallas Firefighters Museum to talk about some of the highlights from his career.
You can listen to the show by clicking on the embedded player below. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts by searching for Firehouse Talk (two words with a space between) in your podcast app.
L-R: Murphy,Bailey, Meredith, Foster, Shivers, Massingill. Circa 2001
Chief Steve Abraira
Fire Chief Steve Abraira cut his teeth in Miami, Florida where he rose through the ranks to be the Assistant Chief of Operations. He then served as Chief of the Department in three different cities including Dallas Texas, Palm Bay Florida and Boston Massachusetts. He holds an associate degree in fire science, a bachelors in public administration, and duel masters of arts in ‘human resource management’, and ‘management and leadership’. When he was Dallas, he was certified as both a State of Texas firefighter and Chief of Department. He was also a nationally Certified Chief Fire Officer through the Commission on Professional Credentialing, as well as an Accredited Fire Chief by the Massachusetts Fire Service Commission. Additionally, he served as a Fire Service Section Board Member for the NFPA.
You can listen to the show by clicking on the embedded player below. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts by searching for Firefighting Legends (two words with a space between) in the app.
Show Notes:
- In the show I referenced Dan Carlin’s podcast episode in which he compares the Imperial German Army of World War I to the Nazi German Army of World War II. You can find that episode at this link: https://dchhaddendum.libsyn.com/imperial-germany-vs-nazi-germany
Garrett Street – Who Was It Named For?
Many of us, including yours truly, have reported for duty at 1904 N. Garrett in old east Dallas, aka “8’s”, or “Fire Station #8”. Few however know the story of the remarkable man behind the street name, nor of the connection between him and the Dallas Fire Department. Local historian Steven Butler has a short bio of the man on WRR’s website that is well worth reading. You can access the story by clicking HERE.
The Knife and Gun Club of Dallas
The latest podcast can be described as brief history of the Dallas Chapter of the Knife and Gun Club. The story begins with historical incidents from when Dallas was a frontier town, but also relates more recent tales with a personal twist.
Sources for this story included the books: “Dallas, The Deciding Years, A Historical Portrait”, by A.C. Greene, and “The Lusty Texans of Dallas” by John William Rogers.
Click on the audio player below to listen.
You can also click on the title of this post, above, to be taken to the post page where the attached PDFs can be viewed.
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Dallas When DFD Was Founded
If you ever wondered what Dallas looked like the year that the Dallas Fire Department was formed, you need not wonder, you can see it clearly thanks to an amazing map that was created by H. Brosius that same year – 1872.
When the Dallas Firefighter’s Museum reopens (which could be soon depending on the success of the vaccine rollout) you can come see this map in great detail hanging proudly on the wall. Until then, take a moment to see if you can find some of the landmarks referenced at the bottom of the map. You will want to go to the wikimedia site where the image is hosted and download it from there in order to see it as clearly as possible. Here’s the link:
Sound of a Siren
The year is 1963. Bud Massie and Joe Jones are both Dallas firefighters and both they, and their wives Marsha and Betty, are close friends. On Monday, August 26, Bud and Joe are riding Truck 15 in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas while Marsha and Betty are spending the day together The regular Truck 15 is in the shop, so they are riding on a 27 year old reserve truck. The truck, pictured above when it was new, was known as the Centennial truck because it was purchased for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exhibition and World’s Fair which was held at Fair Park in Dallas. This is a story of tragedy told, not from a firefighter perspective, but from a family member perspective, because a line of duty death does not occur in a vacuum; like a stone cast in a pond, the ripples expand outward.
You can hear the story by clicking the green arrow in the audio player below, or you can listen on your mobile device wherever you get your music and podcasts (Apple, Amazon, Spotify, etc); just search for “Firefighting Legends”.
Also, if you are on the “Latest Posts” page, you will need to click on the post title “Sound of a Siren” or the post photo (the one of the truck at the top) to go to the “Sound of a Siren” page that shows all the newspaper articles.
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Here She Comes Boys!
In the early 1900’s, Bert and Boyd Burris move from Indiana to Texas and join the Dallas Fire Department. Another firefighter, E.O. Jones rises through the ranks to become an Assistant Chief. The men have a date with destiny awaiting them at the Texas Wheel and Body Fire in 1923. Listen to the podcast for the full story. Related photographs and a map are below the audio player.
Below: Photograph of Bert Burris, killed at the Texas Wheel & Body Fire on Commerce Street in Dallas in 1923.
Also killed at the same fire was Chief E.O. Jones, aka Charles Jones, Charlie Jones and Cap Jones.
Photograph of the station from which Bert Burris answered his last alarm. At that time it was called the “Fair Park Fire Station” and he responded on Engine 10. It later came to be called Station #5. The building still stands, but is now the home of the Dallas Firefighters Museum.
Little is known about this photograph from the Dallas Firefighter Museum Archives, but there are a few things we can deduce. 4th from right is Chief Magee who was the Chief of the Department in the early 1900’s until his retirement in 1919. The station is believed to be “old Central”. The man in suspenders to the right of the boxers is very likely to be Chief E.O. “Charlie” Jones.
Our guest for this episode: Chaplain Denny Burris, Retired DFD Chaplain, grandson of Boyd Burris and great-nephew of Bert Burris.
