07:35 AM CDT on Monday, April 5, 2004

Associated Press and Mike Zientek / 11 News

HOUSTON (AP) -- The Houston Fire Department is in mourning after a colleague is killed Sunday in the line of duty. He died while battling a blaze at the El Festival Ballroom in the 7600 block of Kempwood on Houston's northwest side.

Three other firefighters were injured while fighting the same fire.

HFD Probationary Firefighter Kevin Kulow

Firefighters who arrived at the El Festival Ballroom in northwest Houston around 6 a.m. found the building engulfed in flames. They went inside, but the fire was too intense and they were pulled out about 20 minutes after arriving, said Javier Rodriguez, an inspector with the fire department.

"Part of the building collapsed," Rodriguez said. "We don't know whether that was the cause" of the firefighters' death.

The firefighter who died was identified as 32-year-old Kevin Kulow. He had been with the fire department since September and was still working through his probationary period, Rodriguez said.

"Any time that a member makes that ultimate sacrifice in a situation like this is tragic," said the firefighter's union president Steve Williams.

Kulow's team from Station 50 arrived at the ballroom fire first.

An assistant fire chief said that those firefighters heard from people outside the club that there were still people inside the club. So three firefighters went into the burning building.

But the incident commander soon decided the fire was too intense. "Firefighters ten came out and the first procedure when there is a defensive fire is to do a personnel accountability and that was done," said HFD Assistant Chief Raul Reyes. "That's when the firefighter, it was determined that we were missing one."

Nearby residents said that looking into the burned-out building caused them to look inside themselves. "

"Everybody wants to live their life, but you don't know what's going to happen," said Raymond Victor. "Understand? Don't nobody knows."

The firefighters who stood in honor of Kevin Kulow as his body passed understand that, as do the people who live near Station 50.

The three other firefighters suffered minor injuries, Rodriguez said. Capt. James Walterbach had smoke inhalation, Eddie Perrot had a collar bone injury and Senior Capt. Robert Smith had minor burns to a hand. All three were in stable condition at local hospitals.

The blaze was brought under control about an hour and a half after firefighters arrived at the scene, but was still smoldering Sunday afternoon.

Federal, state and local investigators hope the rubble will provide clues to a cause. They include arson experts who will check to see if someone set the fire on purpose.

The stretch of Kempwood between Wirt and the Hempstead Highway is scheduled to be closed until 10:00 Sunday evening.

Firefighters also said that staffing doesn't appear to have played a role in this incident, they said that the maximum amount of four men were on Kulow's truck.

Mayor Bill White said that he had learned that Kulow came to work his shift Sunday 45 minutes early and didn't have to go to the fire, he volunteered. Mayor White said the city will be investigating whether there were any flawed fire department procedures in place during the fatal blaze.

And Mayor White said he wants to try shutting down nightclubs once they can't serve liquor anymore. But he says the legislature and the liquor lobby has passed laws that could make that difficult. The cut-off for alcohol sales is 2:00 in the morning. So Mayor White wonders why they're open into the wee-hours, which the El Festival Ballroom apparently was. "A lot of bad things happen in these nightclubs after the liquor license is over, a lot of stabbings, murders, durgs and here we have a fire," he said. "And that's one thing I want to work on for sure."

And Mayor White says that also wastes police resources. He says he plans on meeting with lawmakers to see what can be done.

The last Houston firefighter to die in the line of duty was Captain Jay Jahnke. He was killed while trying to make a rescue during a blaze at the Four Leaf Towers high-rise in October of 2001. Resident Charles Dill also perished. The department blamed a carelessly discarded cigarette.

Jahnke's death became a lightning rod for rank-and-a-file firefighters who say three-man versus four-man crews on ladder trucks contributed to his death.

The department's official report cited a number of issues that made the situation worse, including human error and the weather, but not staffing.

However, a later federal report said staffing may have played a role in the deaths. Then Mayor Lee Brown made a commitment to putting four firefighters on every truck.

Firefighters on scene of Sunday's blaze said that was the case. There were four firefighters on the initial responding truck.

If you wish to help the family of Houston Firefighter Kevin Kulow, contributions may be made to the 100 Club Survivor's Fund, 1233 West Loop South, Suite 1250, Houston, Texas 77027, or click onto the100club.org.