Boriskie: Radio frequency may have been hijacked, transmission not from firefighters

Just one day after racist graffiti was discovered in a Houston fire station, the department is reeling from new allegations of intolerance over a racist transmission heard on a radio frequency used by Houston firefighters.

“I’m mad and quite frankly mad as hell,” said Houston Fire Chief Phil Boriskie during a hastily called news conference at Fire Headquarters Wednesday afternoon.

Boriskie said a preliminary investigation suggests the transmission did not come from firefighters, but rather an outside person or persons who hijacked the frequency.

“We’ve launched an investigation and are determined to get to the bottom of it,” Boriskie said.

Meanwhile, federal investigators have joined police in the investigation into Tuesday morning’s discovery of racist graffiti at a fire station at Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Two female firefighters found their storage lockers marred with the “n” word and other slurs. Fire Department rules restrict what the women are allowed to say, but their attorney claims racial and sexual harassment was out of control.

“I think this is symptomatic of a much larger problem and obviously there’s been a history of this within the department,” said attorney Joseph Amad.

Boriskie said the incidents do not reflect the vast majority of the department’s four thousand firefighters, but a former firefighters said bigotry within the department has always been a problem.

“From the people I talk to, not only have things not improved but they’ve actually gotten worse,” said a man, who asked not to be identified.

Otis Jordan, the President of the Black Firefighters Association, has called on Chief Boriskie to step down. “I serve at the pleasure of the citizens of Houston,” said Boriskie.
By Rucks Russell, KHOU News, Houston