Add HFD Chief to the list of things Mayor Parker will need to address.
With his department under siege by critics and a new mayor as his boss, Houston Fire Chief Phil Boriskie stepped down as the department’s top commander, saying he wanted to return to the force as a firefighter.
“The time has come for me to step away as chief,” Boriskie said after six years in the top job and nearly three decades with the Houston Fire Department. “It has been a privilege to be your fire chief, but it will be a greater privilege to work by your side as a firefighter at the emergency scene.”
It is not clear where Boriskie, who made $148,890 a year as chief, will serve as a district chief, which has a base salary of $82,176. When appointed by then-Mayor Bill White in 2004, he was a district chief in northwest Houston.
Boriskie’s decision, which becomes effective Friday, came less than a week after Mayor Annise Parker admonished him and command staff for their “poor” handling of a female firefighter’s Jan. 13 return to work, six months after racist and sexist graffiti was discovered in the Station 54 women’s dormitory.
That story is here; Mary Benton and KUHF have more on Boriskie’s resignation. I don’t really have much to add to this other than to say that given all that’s happened it’s not a surprise. I thank Chief Boriskie for his service and I wish Mayor Parker good luck in finding his replacement.