{"id":36851,"date":"2025-07-04T02:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T02:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/36851\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T02:00:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T02:00:10","slug":"how-are-houston-first-responders-prepared-for-an-ambush-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/36851\/","title":{"rendered":"How are Houston first responders prepared for an ambush attack?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><strong>HOUSTON<\/strong> \u2013 First responders are the ones who rush toward danger. The sounds of gunfire, the raging flames, all to save lives. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Just this past Saturday, firefighters in Idaho responded to a brush fire only to be ambushed. Two firefighters lost their lives and a third was injured. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Now, firefighters in Houston are looking at how they\u2019re prepared to respond to an attack. <\/p>\n<ul class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 kDvXdO font_openSans articleList\">\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\"\/><\/ul>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cThat can happen here or anywhere else within the nation,\u201d said Captain Samantha Smith with Community Volunteer Fire Department. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cYou never know when something bad might happen,\u201d added Assistant Chief Josh Taylor of Community VFD. \u201cIt could be in Idaho one week and it could be at Houston, Texas, another week. Those firefighters and EMTs had no idea what was coming. So, that could happen anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">It\u2019s why Community VFD and other Houston departments train for these things. Their goal is to respond to an emergency, not become an emergency. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWe talk often about these what-if scenarios and making sure that we\u2019re working through them,\u201d Cpt. Smith said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">That includes making sure they have the right tools. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">For example, every fire truck and ambulance within the Community VFD system has a bulletproof vest for every seat in the truck. <\/p>\n<p>A bulletproof vest is placed in every seat of each vehicle operated by the Community Volunteer Fire Department. (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston &#8211; All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">But that\u2019s not it. The fire department has a bulletproof ambulance for those \u201cworst-case calls.\u201d <\/p>\n<ul class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 kDvXdO font_openSans articleList\">\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\"\/><\/ul>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cPretty much everything that you typically see inside the normal ambulance would be all compacted right here,\u201d Asst. Chief Taylor said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The machine is a rarity across Houston and the country. No other department in Harris County has a bulletproof ambulance. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">It\u2019s something you\u2019d typically expect SWAT officers to jump out of. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">But this piece of equipment is specifically designed to rescue people hurt in the most dangerous of situations. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cAny kind of active shooter events,\u201d Asst. Chief Taylor said. \u201cIt\u2019s armored, it\u2019s bulletproof. We can drive up straight to the front door if the scene\u2019s not safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><b>Gage Goulding:<\/b> \u201cGive me an example of when this unit has been used recently.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><b>Asst. Chief Josh Taylor: <\/b>\u201cIt recently got used as of last week on I-45. We had a young lady that was on a lawn chair on 45 and refused to get off of it. It was a dangerous situation. We\u2019re gonna be using it for the World cup because that\u2019s gonna be a large influx of people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">If an ambush like the firefighters in Idaho saw were to happen in Houston, would our firefighters be able to avoid it? <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWe do everything we possibly can. But at the end of the day, unfortunately, we all know that there\u2019s just certain situations that we can\u2019t avoid,\u201d said Cpt. Smith. <\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 First responders are the ones who rush toward danger. The sounds of gunfire, the raging flames,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[30044,8991,30043,4219,7286,7716,12768,30045,6386,4345,13670,728,7718,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-36851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-ambush","9":"tag-attack","10":"tag-community-volunteer-fire-department","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-ems","13":"tag-emt","14":"tag-firefighter","15":"tag-first-responder","16":"tag-harris-county","17":"tag-houston","18":"tag-idaho","19":"tag-local-news","20":"tag-paramedic","21":"tag-texas","22":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114792498855430715","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}