HOUSTON – Houston Mayor John Whitmire has commented for the first time regarding the decision to terminate 12 cadets at the Houston Fire Department after officials uncovered a social media group chat sharing offensive and harmful content.
The firings happened nearly two weeks ago on April 18 and allegedly stemmed from a chat on Instagram. The chat was first discovered near the end of December, and it led to an investigation.
The move was announced by Houston Fire Chief Thomas Muñoz, who called the behavior “inconsistent with the [HFD] Code of Conduct.”
At the beginning of each class, the cadets took an anti-discrimination and anti-harassment seminar. These courses took place before the investigation started.
The 12 cadets were among a class of 39 who had passed civil service class and were working their way through the next course.
They were fired after passing their firefighting courses but before graduating and being sworn into the department. They were terminated during the week-long period between passing the classes and being sworn in.
HFD congratulated the remaining 27 cadets after they were sworn in on April 24.
WELCOME TO THE FAMILY! 🔥 Congratulations to Cadet Classes 2024D and 2025B on your graduation today. You've joined the greatest fire department in the country and the best job in the world. Special thanks to Mayor @whitmire_john & Council Member Davis for their continued support! pic.twitter.com/3IWvQ0FDar
— Houston Fire Dept (@HoustonFire) April 25, 2025
OUR FIRST REPORT: 12 Houston Fire Department cadets terminated for sharing racist, hateful memes in Instagram group chat
At an event at City Hall Thursday, Whitmire said he wanted the firings to send a message about his administration’s stance on hateful dialogue and behavior.
”[The decision] shows, in my administration, we have zero tolerance for any racism, any trash talk of our community,“ Whitmire said. ”[...] We’re not going to talk about people’s race [or sexual orientation] in a negative way. We want good, decent firefighters.”
Whitmire said that he agreed with and stood by Chief Muñoz’s decision, adding that he wouldn’t be doing his job if he failed to take action.
“He held them to a higher standard. I hold them to a higher standard,” Whitmire said.
HFD sources did not disclose the specific nature of the chat’s contents, but they said it contained “inappropriate memes and images.”
One of the issues Whitmire addressed regarding this move was the loss in taxpayer investment from the firings. With firefighter training being an inherently costly endeavor.
Mayor Whitmire acknowledged these concerns, conversationally estimating that the city could have lost as much as $1 million from the combined funds in training.
An HFD spokesperson confirmed these estimates to KPRC 2’s Rilwan Balogun, saying that the total costs in training average out to about $100,000 per cadet. These expenses include the cadet’s salary, plus fees for instructors, training and equipment, all of which is paid for by the city.
Facing the reality of a potential $1.2 million lost investment—the combined training costs of the 12 cadets—Mayor Whitmire stood by his decision.
“I got to do the right thing,” he said. “I sure hate to lose a million dollars, but on the other hand, what price do you put on people doing the right thing and respecting the people they serve, that pay their salary?”
