HOUSTON—Houston’s first all-female fire crew made history Thursday night, operating a fire pumper truck and hitting the streets together for the first time.
“We joked about this amongst ourselves,” said Captain Bonnie Richter, a 14 year veteran of the Houston Fire Department. “I think it’s pretty cool between us, but it shouldn’t be different for anyone else.”
Richter was joined on shift by three other women, who either through rotation or prior scheduling, found themselves in the glare of history at fire station 10.
“We’re going to do the same job that we came to do this morning. It’s not going to be different for us,” added Richter.
The all-female crew responded to emergency calls in their district hours after Mayor Annise Parker announced the unprecedented assignments during her state of the city address.
“The first all-women fire crew is actually going to be on shift today for the first time in Houston’s history and it’s about time,” said Parker.
Members of the crew said they hoped not to be singled out for any special recognition, calling themselves no different from anyone else.
HFD is facing intense scrutiny over the way the department treats female firefighters.
“If you look at the numbers we seem kind of small in number,” added Richter. “But we do have quite a few women in the department. I think that most of the guys have gotten used to that now.”
In time, they say they hope Houstonians get used to seeing an all-female fire crew.
