The Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office (SFMO) said it is investigating a residential fire in Odessa that resulted in the death of one firefighter and injured six others.
Firefighters from Odessa Fire Rescue and West Odessa Volunteer Fire Department were battling a fire on Sunday, June 14. Seven firefighters were injured and transpo
rted to a local hospital. Six were treated and released. Lt. Isai Huerta died from his injuries.
During fire fighting operations, conditions deteriorated, said Jason Cotton, fire chief for Odessa Fire Rescue.
The Ector County Sheriff’s Office and Odessa Fire Rescue asked SFMO to conduct an or
igin and cause investigation into the fire. SFMO is also leading a firefighter fatality investigation.
Both investigations are ongoing. SFMO will work closely with local officials to determine the facts and circumstances. SFMO is part of the Texas Department of Insurance.
While private flood insurance firms have filled that gap to a large degree, the overall level of U.S. flood coverage has remained about the same, Saleh explained.
And while critics of the FEMA flood maps have long argued that the maps don’t show the true extent of flood-vulnerable areas, Moody’s computer models bring
it into sharp relief. For the Houston area, for example, a Moody’s map shows a one-in-100-year flood re
aching a vastly larger number of square miles than FEMA’s maps show.
The reach of inland flooding will be even greater if levees fail. Saleh said that studies show tha
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t America has about 100,000 miles of levees, mostly along rivers and lakes that may be increas
ingly vulnerable to extreme rainfall events.
The average age of those levees is 60 years old, he said.
How property-casualty insurers are preparing clients for these growing risks is less tha
n clear and is something analysts and local governments will likely examine in coming months and years.
“There’s really a spectrum
on how certain insurers are demonstrating what they are doing in terms of resilience, and how much they have invested,” Chang said.
Some carriers have developed plans to improve policyholders’ resilience to hazards, while others have not.
