Houston Fire Department opens door to rehiring former firefighters to bolster ranks

As Robert Acosta posed for pictures, a fellow firefighter slipped in the room and slyly began snapping his own photos.

“Get out of here, Walker,” Acosta said playfully.

It was Acosta’s first day on the job, and he already had been the target of some light ribbing as a “rookie.”

More accurately, it was his second first day as a Houston firefighter.

Acosta is one of 18 graduates of a new Houston Fire Department program to rehire firefighters who have left the department within the last five years.

The program was born out of the contentious relationship and long-stalled contract talks between the firefighters union and the city under former Mayor Sylvester Turner.

The protracted bitterness had put the department in a tough spot, Assistant Chief Michael Brown said. Firefighters were leaving, sometimes right out of training, and morale was desperately low. 

“It’s not that they didn’t have a love for the fire department, for Houston,” Brown said. “They just could not survive on what we were, what our wages were at the time.”

Acosta left the department in April 2023, after only a few years on the job to get closer to family in Arizona. He worked as a firefighter in Phoenix, but said things were different – the culture, the terminology, the tools they used. 

Above all, Acosta missed the brotherhood at Station 19 in the Fifth Ward, and he never missed an opportunity to visit during his frequent trips back to Houston. 

“It was like a second family I was missing here,” he said. With the blessing of his first family, Acosta began asking his former captain if he could come back earlier this year. 

When new Fire Chief Thomas Muñoz took over the department, one of the first things the leadership looked at was how to fix morale and staffing, Brown said.

“The one big first thing was to reach out to the people that left this fire department and see what, see how we failed them,” Brown said.

In its favor, the city this year finally came to an agreement with the firefighter’s union on a contract and a massive settlement for backpay.  

Acosta heard about the back pay settlement while visiting his old stationhouse earlier this year. When he contacted the union about it, he heard talk of a program to bring firefighters back that could be on its way.

The new chief took over in mid-August, and the re-hire program was born a few weeks later. The first class of re-hired firefighters, including Acosta, began training on October 28.

In that first class, almost 70 former Houston firefighters applied to be rehired, said Brown.

The speedy process by which the rehire program came into existence required several issues to be worked out.

In addition to questions about re-entering the firefighters pension system, several applicants wondered whether they would have to start at the bottom of the pay scale or in rank. Eventually it was decided that returning firefighters would start over in rank, but would return to the pay they had when they left. 

The department is working with potential returnees on updating certifications, and training is being tailored to the experience of the individuals going through the program, Brown said. 

This first class did not have to repeat the full firefighter cadet training. Instead, they went through four weeks of re-acclimation classes.

“They didn’t treat us like cadets, but we were still trainees,” Acosta said.

Every class that graduates from the Houston Fire Department’s training program chooses a class motto. The first graduating class of re-hired firefighters went with: “Reunited, reignited.”

“They’re united with the family here in the HFD, and they’ve reignited their passion to be an HFD firefighter,” Brown said.

The class has an unofficial motto, as well, he said: “Never quit… twice.”

Another class is set to start training in February.

For Acosta, it’s good to be home. 

“I’m just thankful for being where I’m at and just don’t want to take it for granted,” he said. 

A short time later, as he posed for photos, an alarm sounded. “That’s me,” he said with an apologetic shrug.

Two minutes later, he was back on an HFD truck pulling out of the station. 

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