A 3 Alarm fire ruined Christmas for 13 families who were displaced by a fire that ripped through their apartment building. The first alarm came in at around 4:20am on Tuesday, December 2 for the Quail Creek Apartment Building and escalated to 3 alarms before it was brought under control.  At one time there were only 5 engines and a couple of truck cos. left in service. Surrounding Caddo Parish Fire District were notified that they may be requested to answer calls in the city.  Click HERE for photos from The Shreveport Times.
On November 18 at about 9:30am SFD was dispatched to the Shreveport Little Theatre located in the 800 block of Margaret Place.  Engine 7 was first due and upon arrival the Captain gave the preliminary size up: " Heavy fire and smoke showing - The building is completely involved."  Shortly before 10:30am the Incident Commander request a 2nd alarm.  Click HERE for a slideshow of this fire.
Click HERE to see a Video of this Fire.
B-shift was on duty on 10/26/08 when the firehouse speakers came on just before 5 am reporting that a house was on fire on St. Paul Street in the Allendale Neighborhood. for Engines 4  8  7  Truck 1  Rescue 1  Medic 14  & Dist. Chief 2 on the initial alarm.  Engines  1  14   Medic 4   were special called As Extra Companies by the Incident Commander.  Click here for slide show of this fire. The Photos were snapped by Todd Olague working for another driver on Engine 8
S.F.D. Units had to hunt down this fire that was set by an Arsonist because an incorrect address was given to 911.  Shreveport Police responding to a domestic abuse call at Clear Horizon Apartments on the morning of September 24th discovered a fire in a woman's apartment. Her apartment received heavy damage and surrounding units received smoke and water damage. Arson is suspected as the woman's boyfriend and another man were seen fleeing shortly before the fire was discovered.      Photo by Paul Pickett  For a video slide show click HERE
S.F.D. Units were dispatched to a two story house on fire at 413 Prospect at about 14:22hrs on Monday, August 4.  Engine 5 reported that they could see heavy black smoke shortly after leaving their quarters on Stoner Ave. which is a couple of miles away.  Engine 7 arrived on scene to find fire going through the roof and the heavy smoke and flames showing from all sections of the house.  Engines 7, 5, 10 Trucks 7 & 1, Rescue 1, District Chief 1 responded on the first alarm.  Engine 11 and 4, Rescue 9 and Distict Chief 2 were special called.  The heat index was 106 degrees F. and additional companies were rotated in to relieve the first alarm and special called units after the fire was declared under control.  At least one engine company was on the scene until well into the evening hours. Click here for photos and a video of the fire.
The Stations' speakers announced a house on fire in the 1400 block of Harvard Street about 9:00PM on Sunday night, July 27, 2008.  Engine 4 arrived on the scene and reported a house totally involved with fire.  At the conclusion of the firefighting the house was found to be almost completely destroyed, and the remaining structure was very unstable.  Neighbors reported that a elderly man lived in the house and had not been seen since earlier in the day. A search for the male occupant was a slow process as firefighters had to go through the rubble piece by piece. SFD cadaver dogs were called in to help with the search.  The body of the 70 year old man was found mid-morning. Click here for more photos.
Chief Brian A. Crawford - Named the New Chief of the Shreveport Fire Department. Police Chief Whitehorn and Interim Fire Chief David Glass Look on.  Mayor Cedric Glover selected Chief Crawford and the Shreveport City Council  voted their approval to make him the new leader of the S.F.D..  Read more about his appointment by clicking here.

On Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 6.53 inches of rain fell between 7 and 10 p.m. (breaking all rain totals for the time period) as recorded at the National Weather Service office at Shreveport Regional Airport. There was major flooding causing many  motorist to be stranded and some homes had to be evacuated. At one point all SFD Engine Companies were out of service on calls. A major water main broke in the south central part of the city, but fortunately there were no major fires. Caddo Fire Districts were put on alert just in case.  Bossier City had lightning strike an apartment building and the resulting fire completely destroyed the complex.  Fire District 6 put in long hours evacuating people from homes in the southern part of their response area. Click on the Times photo to see a larger image.

Shreveport Fire Department Annual Report for 2007. This comprehensive report covers in detail the operation of our fire department.  It reveals the area covered, the fire department administration, communications, emergency medical services, emergency operations, fire prevention, maintenance, training and a statistical summary which includes the incident types, response times, busiest apparatus, fire prevention and training.  Click here are on the image to read the report in detail.

We are deeply saddened by the loss of Caddo Fire District 2 Volunteer Firefighter, Eric Speed.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the Speed family, Chief Harry Lowery and members of Caddo Parish Fire District #2.  Volunteer Firefighter Eric Speed was only 33 years old and a 12 year member of the Caddo Parish Fire District 2, when he died Friday March 28, 2008. Eric was answering a mutual aid call with Caddo Fire District 1 for a mobile home fire when the tanker he was driving left the roadway, struck a tree, and partially rolled over into a ditch. He was trapped in the wreckage for 45 minutes. The Shreveport Fire Department as well as other Fire Districts sent units to assist in his extrication. When he was removed he was airlifted by Life Air Rescue to LSUHSC where he was pronounced DOA. Eric leaves behind four children.  Click HERE or on the Photo for more information and a slide show of the Funeral.
All SFD District Chief Vehicles get new reflective safety chevron scheme. This seems to be a requirement for all emergency vehicles in the UK due to the European Union regulations.  In fact, other civilian service vehicles such as tow trucks, highway maintenance, etc have them.  Rescue 9 has a similar scheme and the Map Vans do also.  This is the rear of DC 5 just after application.  Photo by Chief Ken Conley.   Click on photo or here for a large image.

Two major fires occurred on Sunday, March 9.  A full response of 4 engines, 2 trucks, a rescue, a medic unit and a District Chief were dispatched to the Kingwood Forest Apartments 8200 block of Wild Briar Drive at 12:18 PM.  Additional medic units were dispatched as four people had jumped from the balcony of the apartments above the fire. They were transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Several apartments received heavy damage.
About 4:15 PM, a full first alarm assignment was sent to 1026 Blanchard Place.  Engine 8 was first on the scene and reported heavy smoke conditions and requested the next engine company to lay a supply line.  The fire had spread into the wall spaces and the attic of this large home, and was very difficult to contain because as soon as the firefighters would get one section out flames would appear in another section.  Two additional engines were requested for additional manpower.  It took approximately an hour before this fire was declared under control. Additional engine companies were sent for relief after it was tapped out.  It was a rough Sunday afternoon for the SFD troupes, but they did a great job in handling a couple of really tough fires.  Click here to see a few more pictures and a short video plus The Shreveport Times story about these two fires.

Tuesday, Feb. 26 there were several fires that occurred almost simultaneously. One of them was in the 900 blk of Pickett and was dispatched a little after 10 PM. When Units arrived, they fo?nd one house fully involved and spreading to another. Rescue 1 got word, that someone was inside the exposure house, and found a man who was hiding in a closet, he was taken to LSUMC with smoke inhalation. The first house which received considerable damage was vacant. At approximately 3:30 AM, a full assignment was transmitted again for the vacant house for a rekindling.  Fire investigators are pretty sure that both fires are of suspicious origin.  The other working fires that occurred almost simultaneously were on E. Jordan, Jenkins St, and Via St.  Other alarms came in during this time, but they were not working fires.

A little past 0010 hrs on Sunday, January 2, Engine 15, first due on an alarm of fire in an apartment building in the 3500 blk of West 70th St., radioed to dispatch that they had heavy smoke and flames and without breaking the transmission requested a second alarm.  Firefighters saved the life of a six-year-old girl by removing her from her apartment which was heavily involved with fire. Her brother had jumped from their second floor window just before Engine 15 arrived. Click HERE for more pics.

On January 9th, pictures of this MVA were captured by Chief Ken Conley.  It was for a MVA on Bert Kouns and Terry Bradshaw Passway.  Engine 19, Medic 19, Rescue 1 and District Chief 5 took in the roll.  Three people were injured and transported to the hospital.  Click HERE or on the photo for more pictures of this MVA.

At 1 p.m. on January 3, S.F.D. Station speakers broadcast a two story apartment house on fire in the 200 block of Dalzell St. in the Highland neighborhood.  It was the first significant fire in Shreveport for 2008 and caused heavy damage.  It was traced back to an electrical water heater in a downstairs apartment.  Engines 5, 7, 10 and 11, Trucks 7 and 1, Rescue 1 and the 2nd District Chief responded.
Additional Pictures:  Pic 1    Pic 2    Pic 3

About our Site
In our Web site you will find information about the Signal 51 Group, and what it does to support our local fire departments.  There are a lot of photographs of fires, firefighters, buff events, apparatus and a great deal of other stuff for you to observe.  Don't forget to click on any picture to see an enlarged image (not all, but most).
We have a large number of Videos Clips 
In our Site you will find video clips of fires, apparatus responding to emergencies and other fire dept. related video.  Some of the video clips can be streamed while others can be downloaded and viewed later.
Members of the Signal 51 Group want this site to be a great place to visit
This Webpage is paid for by the dues from the members of the Signal 51 Group, and we want it to be really a great fire buff webpage, so if you have any suggestions for improving our site please email us or leave a message in our Guestbook.  If you have any complaints about something not working, please email us so we can fix it.
We try to keep up with what's happening with the S.F.D.
Since we are a fire buff club we will include interesting but unofficial information about the Shreveport Fire Department and other fire departments in our area.
Our Fire Department
From its beginning in 1890 (see Brief History of the S.F.D.), with a great deal of support from the citizens, local government officials, and outstanding leadership the Shreveport Fire Department has done an excellent job in fulfilling its primary responsibility to protect lives and property from fire.  Starting in 1965 the well trained firefighting crews were starting to receive basic life support and CPR training and provided these services when called upon.  So under Chief Dallas W. Greene leadership the firefighters were prepared in 1983 when the S.F.D. began operating the Emergency Medical Service for our city.  At that time local privately owned ambulance companies were discontinuing their services.  Under Chief Bo Roberts leadership the Fire Dept. obtained a Property Insurance Association of Louisiana rating of Class 1 in 1998.    When it became Class 1 it was one of 14 fire departments operating Advance Life Support in the United States that had obtained that ranking.  Click Here to see the Shreveport F.D. Master Plan for the years 2004 to 2008.

About Us (Signal 51)
The Signal 51 Group was formed in 1969 by five local Fire Buffs whose mission was to offer support to the Fi?e Department of the City of Shreveport.  In 2004 we celebrated our 35th year of operation and now have over 20 members.  Our organization is a member of the International Fire Buff Associates, Inc. (IFBA).  The IFBA  has over eighty Fire Buff Groups in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and many other contries that banned together to further their ideas, on a common ground in promoting the general welfare of the fire services and allied emergency services.  

We are always looking for the right kind of person who might be interested in joining Signal 51.  If you live in the Shreveport area and might be interested, we certainly can use you to help in carrying out our key mission of assisting with rehab at major emergencies in our area and supporting the S.F.D. in other endeavors. Please contact us if you are interested in joining us or would like to have more information.

Click HERE to learn more about the Signal 51 Group.  Or email us at firebuffs@signal51group.com

The Caddo Parish 9-1-1 District has an "Enhanced 9-1-1   System", which provides immediate information containing the caller's name, address, and telephone number.  If you hang up, the Communications Officer  will call back! If the Communications Officer receives a "9-1-1" call and no one is on the phone (either the phone is an "open line" or the caller hangs up), the Communications Officer will attempt to call the telephone number back to determine if there is an emergency.   If no answer is received, the closest available law enforcement agency will be dispatched to investigate the call.  Click HERE or on the thumbnail for more about our 9-1-1 System.  Also, Check out the 9-1-1 video presentation.

See the events that were Captured on this site in the Year 2007

Click HERE or on the thumbnail to ?see our Captured Events during 2007.

See the events that were Captured on this site in the Year 2006. 


 Click HERE or on the thumbnail to see our Captured Events during 2006.

See the events that were Captured on this site in the Year 2005.  Included S F D's Hurricane Katrina's Response, a terrible hot air balloon accident, several serious fires, SFD's Chief, new pumpers and medic units, and more. 

Click HERE or on the thumbnail to see our Captured Events during 2005.

This Web site received 18750 hits during 2008

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 * Disclaimer:   All information concerning the Shreveport, Louisiana, Fire Department is "Unofficial". This site is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the Shreveport Fire Department, IAFF Local 514, nor the City of Shreveport. It is intended for information and entertainment only. All materials and viewpoints are the sole responsibility of the author and do not reflect the views or opinions of any these agencies or their representatives.  

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