Houston Fire Department cadets receive conflicting info on $5,000 bonus—Final word still to come
Houston - Some new hires at the Houston Fire Department are left puzzled after being promised a $5,000 bonus, then receiving an email saying otherwise.
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This comes after the Houston Fire Department finally ironed out 8 years of pay issues, and new cadets are being offered a $5,000 bonus, but last night some HFD trainees received an email saying, "the Houston Fire Department is no longer offering the $5,000 hiring incentive".
"This sends a terrible message. I was shocked. The men and women of the fire department have been through quite a bit and for me to be shocked by something like this is not some small feat. For anybody to think it was appropriate to tell somebody to send an email out to future firefighters with this message is alarming...this just doesn't sit right. I don't know why somebody would do that. (Describe how upsetting that was for you to get that information.) It was extremely upsetting, to a level that I am with my family, and I receive a call late last night with this information, and it kept me up...I am so thankful the mayor's administration and the mayor himself took this as the high priority that it is, especially when we're dealing with a fire department that is minimum of 500 firefighters and paramedics, short," explains Houston Professional Firefighters Association President Marty Lancton who says he was so disturbed after getting word of the bonus being taken away, he immediately called the mayor.
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Mayor John Whitmire's office sent me a statement about the notice saying, "It is factually incorrect and should not have been communicated. The error is being addressed by the Houston Fire Department today".
"I'm told the only person in the fire department who could have authorized that is the fire chief and his office," Lancton adds.
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We don't have that confirmed. So, who authorized the notice? We're still trying to get to the bottom of it.
A spokesperson for the Houston Fire Department says "We are aware this communication went out prematurely. We are not taking the bonus back. We are working with the administration to extend it to the August and October 2024 classes".