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San Antonio Firefighters Help Houston Brethren Through Difficult Day

The San Antonio Fire Department is showing its support for their brother and sister firefighters in Houston.

Today 150 off duty San Antonio firefighters are standing watch over Houston so that firefighters who want to attend the public memorial service for the four fighters who died Friday are able to do so.

It was the highest single day death total in the history of the Houston Fire Department.

The public memorial service is at Reliant Stadium and more than 40,000 are expected to attend. The City of Houston closed roads for two hours to allow hundreds of fellow firefighters from across the state and the country to get into the stadium.

Three San Antonio firefighters are assigned to each Houston fire truck, along with one Houston firefighter assigned to drive each truck, responding to all calls to HFD through 11:30 tonight. Already this morning, the firefighters responded to a call for a high-rise fire.

SAFD officials also will attend the memorial service, and the City has sent an aerial platform truck, a fire engine and a command vehicle to honor their brother and sister firefighters at the memorial service.

Eileen Pace is a veteran radio and print journalist with a long history of investigative and feature reporting in San Antonio and Houston, earning more than 50 awards for investigative reporting, documentaries, long-form series, features, sports stories, outstanding anchoring and best use of sound.