Tommy Wayne Searcy

January 5, 1975 – September 8, 2020

 

Tommy Searcy was born in Houston on January 5, 1975. The son of Harold and Sin Cha Searcy, Tommy grew up in the Aldine area, along with his older brother Terry and twin brother Tony. He graduated from Aldine MacArthur High School, and immediately began a career of public service. Tommy served the community for more than 25 years.

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On their 18th birthdays, Tommy and Tony joined the Westfield Fire Department as volunteers. From there, Tommy obtained his EMT and paramedic certifications and worked in the Aldine/Westfield area at Harris County Emergency Corps. He then attended the fire academy at San Jacinto College, along with Tony. Tommy joined the Lufkin Fire Department in 1999. Never forgetting where he started, Tommy continued to volunteer with Westfield while working full time in Lufkin.

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After leaving Lufkin, he served at the City of Bellaire Fire Department as a fire fighter / paramedic. While at Bellaire, he encouraged his cousin Brandon Cano to become a fire fighter. Like Tommy, Brandon is serving the community as a fire fighter.

In August 2002, Tommy was hired by the City of Houston. For 18 years, he served Houstonians, rising to the rank of captain in the Houston Fire Department. Tommy also promoted through the ranks in Westfield, achieving the rank of Assistant Chief. Tommy most recently served as a captain at HFD Station 67 on the A shift.

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Tommy received multiple awards, including commendations of valor, from the Westfield Fire Department and the Houston Fire Department. In 2019, his actions at a house fire helped save the life of a brother fire fighter. Tommy was universally respected for his honor, pride and respect of traditions within the fire service.

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In August 2020, Tommy was diagnosed with COVID-19 and later hospitalized due to complications. He valiantly fought for his life and received an investigational drug from an international pharmaceutical company to continue that fight.

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Tommy was immensely proud of his three daughters – Kaylin, Krista and Kinley. He also is survived by his parents Harold and Sin Cha Searcy; his twin brother Tony and his wife Crystal, and niece Cami and nephew Ethan; his brother Terry and nephew Matthew; his longtime girlfriend Luisa Cerda and her daughters Kirsten Perez and Gracie Cerda, and her sons Kevin Perez, Matthew Perez and Jayden Cerda; Trina Searcy, the mother of Tommy’s daughters; and many aunts, uncles and cousins.

The Searcy family is grateful for the amazing support Tommy and the family received in recent months, and they offer heartfelt thanks to everyone at the fire departments where he served elsewhere in the community.

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Visitation will be held on Tuesday, September 15, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Champion Forest Baptist Church, 15555 Stuebner-Airline Road, Houston, TX 77069. Funeral services with full Fire Department Honors will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, September 16, at the church. Anyone attending will be required to wear a face covering and observe social distancing guidelines.

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To learn more about the character and career of Captain Tommy Searcy including an account of courageous actions that helped save a fellow firefighter please continue to read below…

 

 

• Born January 5th, 1975 and grew up in the Aldine area with his twin brother and family.  He attended local schools and graduated from MacArthur High School.

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• Tommy was introduced to the fire service by a fellow high school classmate who convinced him to join Westfield Volunteer FD on his 18th birthday in 1993, and of course Tommy told his twin brother Tony he was joining with him!  This was the start of Tommy being a leader and the start of the Searcy Brothers careers in the fire service, wanting to help their community.

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• Over the years Tommy continued to serve and was self- motivated to enhance his service capabilites and acquired his state EMT license, later progressing to becoming a paramedic.  Tommy then continued to serve his community by volunteering for Harris County Emergency Corps as a working paramedic in and around the Aldine/Westfield area.

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• Tommy attended fire school in San Jacinto College’s fire academy in 1998, gaining his TCFP certification as a structural firefighter.  He started testing for various career fire departments, eventually beginning his career with Lufkin FD in 1999.  Never forgetting where he started, he continued to volunteer with Westfield Volunteer FD while working full time in Lufkin. Tommy promoted through the ranks in Westfield, achieving the rank of Assistant Chief.

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• After leaving Lufkin FD, he was hired by Bellaire FD and worked as a FF/paramedic.  During his tenure at Bellaire, he interacted with one of his cousins who was interested in becoming a firefighter.  Through Tommy’s assistance, guidance, support and leadership that young man, Brandon Cano, is now a Bellaire firefighter serving his community like his cousin Tommy.

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• All during this time, his ultimate career goal was to join the Houston Fire Department and work amongst the men and women of HFD.  On August 12, 2002 Tommy achieved his goal and was hired by the Houston FD.  Tommy’s self-motivation, service and leadership always was his driving force, and he successfully promoted to the rank of Captain in the Houston Fire Department, currently assigned to Station 67 on the A shift.

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• Tommy is a decorated firefighter, who has received multiple awards and commendations of valor from the Westfield Fire Department and the Houston Fire Department, but impressively he  developed a base of devoted firefighters from Westfield to Houston and surrounding County Fire Departments, who follow him because of his honor, pride and tradition within the fire service. 

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• One example of Captain Tommy Searcy’s character is as follows:

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On July 2, 2019…

Captain Searcy responded to a working house fire at a time when most civilians would be fast asleep. As the hose line was advanced Captain Searcy reassessed interior conditions and recognized the ceiling was beginning to fall. His experience and intuition guided him to back out of the environment. Suddenly a catastrophic fireground event occurred with significant heat filling the hallway as the ceiling collapsed on the second floor. He grabbed E-67B FF R. Elliot while controlling the hose line to roll them both away from the impending collapse. Captain Searcy quickly removed himself and his FF from fallen debris, repositioned on the stairs and assessed his crew. Immediately recognizing FF Niles was separated from them during the collapse, he called the first mayday transmission, then with extreme intestinal fortitude advanced back up the stairs through extreme heat pushing back a wall of fire to search for his missing FF. His actions helped facilitate the successful mayday operation which saved the life of FF Niles.

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