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Houston Mayor John Whitmire has confirmed to our TV Partner Channel Two that HFD Chief Samuel Pena is “retired.”
“He plans to retire. I thank him for his service,” said Whitmire in a call to KPRC 2′s Mario Diaz.
Thomas Munoz will replace Pena. Munoz has served the city as the Office of Emergency Management Deputy Director and Emergency Coordinator, and has over 26 years of experience as a first responder, emergency manager and Coast Guard, according to his city of Houston bio.
Pena had served as HFD Chief since 2016. Over his tenure he led the third-largest municipal fire department in the country with more than 3,000 personnel. He also was at the center of a bitter legal fight between the union and his former boss, Mayor Sylvester Turner. The lengthy battle impacted Peña’s reputation with the union and firefighters creating morale issues within the ranks.
He previously served three years and nine months as fire chief in El Paso, Texas.