DALLAS, Texas — A family in Northwest Dallas is homeless after an electrical fire consumed their house last week, and now the president of the Dallas Fire Fighters Association believes much of the property could have been saved if the city had already made repairs to a nearby, out-of-service fire station.
Dallas Fire-Rescue Station 30 is .7 miles from Dustin Sample's home.
Right now, that fire station is just an empty building. It shuddered last November after the city discovered structural issues related to the building's foundation.
The fire crew that used to call that building home now responds to calls out of Dallas Fire Station 35 at 3839 Walnut Hill Lane.
Instead of being down the road, Station 35 is more than two miles from Sample's house.
He didn't know any of that when he got a call from his mother last week on Thursday.
She was inside Sample's home with two of his kids when she noticed an electrical fire had started in an attic and was pushing smoke through the house.
"I could just hear her banging on the door through the phone," Sample said.
"She was yelling at my kids to get out."
Sample rushed home as he and his family called 911.
After getting through, it took the Station 30 crew 4 minutes and 40 seconds to arrive from Station 35, according to fire department spokesperson Jason Evans.
But by the time firefighters got on scene, their efforts were no match for the fire.
"They got on the roof and it started to cave in, so at that point, they just came back and had to let it burn. There was nothing they could do," Sample said.
The Dallas father told WFAA that he felt helpless watching his home wither away.
"A lot of great memories there. I was just thinking, 'God help me.' I don't want anybody to ever go through this. It's hard," Sample said.
Luckily, Sample and his family were able to retrieve some sentimental belongings from the house Tuesday, like photos and a few other items.
'Minutes make the difference'
While the Samples start again, Jim McDade is using their loss as an example of frustration for Station 30's crew.
McDade serves as the President of the Dallas Fire Fighters Association, and told WFAA that if Station 30 was operational, then Sample's home may have been saved.
"Guys who were on the scene told us that this was a simple electrical fire," McDade said.
"We may not have saved the whole house, but it definitely would not have burned down. Without a doubt, they would have been able to save more of that property."
McDade believed that the crew would be out of their firehouse for weeks, maybe more than a month, but didn't expect for the city to take this long to make repairs.
"Thankfully in this instance, there was nobody trapped inside that home. There's just been no progress made and no plan to address this," McDade said.
"Minutes make the difference, and that crew wants to protect that neighborhood but they feel like they're not there for them right now."
McDade added that spots further northwest of Station 30 also remain uncovered and are in a worse response area due to the crew responding out of Station 35.
"Taxpayers out there don't have the fire service they should have based on how all of our fire stations are strategically placed throughout the city," McDade added.
Dallas City Council Member Jennifer Staubach Gates doesn't dismiss McDade's frustrations. She is Sample's council member and also the chair of the Public Safety Committee.
She told WFAA via text message: "Station repairs have been delayed due to COVID-19 but are now scheduled to begin within the next 3-4 months."
Gates added that calls are dispatched to available apparatuses and not actual stations, underscoring that the most important factor when it comes to responding to a fire involves the needed equipment being available during the needed timeframe of the call.
She and Evans added that the department will continue to monitor response times.
Speaking of which, the National Fire Protection Association response time standard sits within five minutes.
The amount of time it took to get to Samples' house is indeed below the average.
But, McDade says it's still not good enough.
"Is the point to be average, or is the point to do our job to the best of our ability?" he asked.