best way to protect myself???

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So I am a greenback when it comes to investing in real estate. My plan is to take out an equity loan against my personal residence for a low rate @ 30 year fixed rate. I was thinking of taking $40k and purchasing a duplex for $18k (generate $800/mon) and a single family residence for $15k (generate $500/mon) and use the residual cash for emergencies or repairs. Now I work Full-time as a firefighter and have a pension, house, and other personal belongings to protect from potential lawsuits. On a liability standpoint would liability insurance be enough to protect myself from losing my assets or should I put the houses under a LLC? If so, do I put them under 1 LLC or separate? Is there a better way someone else knows? What about if I get into more properties, is there a way to consolidate everything but separate the liabilities from each property? In Ohio here...