Captain Dwight Wayne “BB” Bazile Sr., 56, was born on June 14, 1958, in Houston, Texas, where he graduated from Forest Brook High School in 1976. In 1978, he graduated from the Houston Fire Academy. He soon after became known as “BB,” short for “baby boy,” because he was so young when he entered the fire department.

As one of the founding members of the Houston Chapter of the International Association of Black Professional Firefighters, he never turned down anyone in need of assistance. Captain Bazile was known to stand up for equality and justice for firefighters in Houston and across the nation.

Dwight Bazile is a name that is well known in the Houston Fire Department. In 2011 he, along with several others, won a lawsuit that changed the promotional process for officers in the Houston Fire Department. These changes met the standards other major cities had been using for years. This promotional technique, also known as “assessment,” used an evaluation process that reveals the best-qualified candidate by assessing job knowledge, situational judgment, and other abilities necessary to effectively carry out the job description of the position being evaluated.

Captain Bazile was also a licensed vocational nurse. He did numerous things in his community and in the community where he worked. Just minutes before his last house fire, he orchestrated a meeting to find help for an elderly lady who lived alone in his station’s territory. In the 37 years in which Captain Bazile served as a firefighter for the citizens of Houston, he spent nearly all of his time at station 46. Station 46 has always been one of the busiest stations in the city. With his years of service he could have elected to work at a less demanding station but he chose to work at Station 46 because of his admiration and love for that community.

On Thursday, February 19, 2015, while battling a house fire, Captain Bazile realized something was terribly wrong. After making it to his engineer operator, he soon collapsed. He fought as long as he could for nearly 48 hours. On Saturday, February 21, 2015, the gentle giant quietly passed away.

Captain Dwight Bazile will forever live in the heart of his family and in the Houston Fire Department. The same engineer operator Captain Bazile walked to that day in February was later promoted using the newer promotional process mentioned earlier and became captain of Captain Bazile’s last crew.

Captain Bazile lived and died serving the community he loved. He will never be forgotten.