A Tragic Loss Leads to Improved Firefighter Training
GRAND PRAIRIE — More than 14 years ago, a Dallas Fire-Rescue engine carrying senior firefighter Milton Williams and Lt. Todd Krodle pulled up to a burning two-story apartment building in west Oak Cliff.
The two divided their crew that mid-August afternoon, each taking a younger firefighter: Krodle climbed to the roof, while Williams went inside.
What began as a plan to first ventilate, then knock down the blaze turned into a rescue. The roof gave way beneath Krodle, trapping the 17-year firefighter in the smoke-choked attic. After several minutes, he was pulled out and taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was 41.
Krodle’s death stayed with Williams.
The Aftermath and Investigation
Krodle’s death on Aug. 14, 2011, prompted a fresh wave of training in the department and underscored the role of rapid intervention teams, specialized crews that rescue firefighters who become trapped or incapacitated inside a burning building. A review by the Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office, which investigates line-of-duty deaths, found that no such team had been formed.
In 2021, Dallas Fire-Rescue began working to establish dedicated rapid intervention teams to respond to every blaze, ensuring that firefighters inside a burning building had a crew prepared to back them up. Chief Justin Ball said the teams create a “physical and psychological safety net,” allowing firefighters to better focus on extinguishing fires.
New Training Prop and Drill
On Thursday morning, the now-retired firefighter held back his emotions as he watched a crew run a drill on a newly built training prop that prepares them for the kind of scenario that killed his partner.
“For me, this has been a long time coming,” said Williams, now a board member of the Krodle Foundation, the nonprofit that funded the training prop unveiled at a news conference at Hensley Field in Grand Prairie.
The Lt. Todd Krodle Firefighter Rescue Drill was made possible by a donation from the Krodle Foundation.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
The prop resembles the pitched roof of a house, with open sides that expose a cross-section of a mock attic.
Dallas Fire-Rescue firefighter Dustin Jackson is pulled through a roof opening on a ladder September 18, 2025, at their Dallas training facility in Hensley Field.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
Roof cutouts in different spots allow firefighters to practice maneuvers — often leveraging pike poles or ladders — for quickly pulling a trapped colleague to safety.
The Krodle Foundation and Its Mission
The Krodle Foundation, founded in 2014, began by awarding scholarships but has since worked to identify and fill gaps in the department’s budget and support active firefighters, Williams said.
Krodle’s younger brother, Kurt Krodle, spoke before the training demonstration, saying he believed his brother would want others — at Dallas Fire-Rescue and beyond — to learn from his final fire.
“This epitomizes that,” he said.
