In between calls for service, amid a dozen reminders of the tragedy that left Fire Capt. William "Iron Bill" Dowling mortally wounded, the firefighters and paramedics at Houston Fire Station 68 watched the two-hour funeral service Wednesday morning on a TV in the upstairs common area.
On either side of the TV hung fire axes memorializing the two first responders from this station who died on May 31, 2013. A third axe might join them soon with the name of Dowling, who died this month, nearly four years after he was badly injured in a 2013 blaze. Dowling had been based at Station 68 when he and other firefighters responded to the five-alarm fire at the Southwest Inn motel.