Firefighter Daniel Groover, Fire Station 104, Houston, Texas

When there is a blaze, when there is a fire, when there is an explosion, when someone has an emergency medical problem, the firefighters rush in. While others flee danger, the firefighters, with sirens, red lights, horns, red-and-white trucks, charge into the jaws and midst of danger. Sometimes, the danger is overwhelming and firefighters are injured and killed.

Wednesday afternoon, with temperatures approaching 100 degrees outside, in an area called Forest Cove, near the San Jacinto River in Houston, Texas, the fire alarm sounded at the fire station. A house fire then turned into two alarms. The firefighters rushed and battled a fire in the hot, humid Texas summer heat.

Firefighter Daniel Groover was on the second floor of the house when he collapsed in the heat. He was pulled from the blaze by other firefighters, but later Daniel died. Daniel, like his dad, was a career firefighter.

Groover, a 21-year veteran of the Houston Fire Department, lived in Spring, Texas. He was 46-years-old. Daniel was married to Elia and had three sons.

Chief Terry Garrison said of Groover:

Firefighters risk a lot to save lives, and that's what Daniel was doing.

Daniel and his fellow firefighters are a remarkable breed, a rare breed--the American breed.

It has been said that all people are created equal, but a few become firefighters. One of those was Daniel Groover.

And that's just the way it is.

This is a list of the other Houston firefighters who have been killed in the line of duty in the last 12 months:

Captain EMT Matthew Renaud, 35, of Station 51;
Engineer Operator EMT Robert Bebee, 41, of Station 51;
Firefighter EMT Robert Garner, 29, of Station 68;
Probationary Firefighter Anne Sullivan, 24, of Station 68.