will and grace

Meet the heroic Houston firefighter blazing a trail in this year's smoke show pinup calendar

Tara Grace Houston Fire Fighters Calendar 2022

Photo courtesy of Tara Grace

The Houston Fire Fighters Calendar is back and there’s a twist for the first time: female heroes are mixed in with the expected shirtless, greased-up, muscle-bulging, beefcake guys.

Tara Grace, 45, adorns the month of December. She is an active fire fighter, a 19-year veteran of the Houston Fire Department, assigned to Station 42 near the Ship Channel. This is her first experience as a calendar girl.

The 2023 Houston Fire Fighters Calendar is available for $35 — plus $6 for shipping — online. The calendar was produced by the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association Charitable Foundation, benefitting the its Burned Children’s initiative.

We caught up with “TARA FIREFIGHTER” as she’s billed on the calendar. Grace is pictured wearing a relatively modest red tank top and regulation tan fire fighter pants. She is holding a cat.

CultureMap: Seriously, when was the last time you climbed a tree to rescue a cat? Is that even a thing for fire fighters anymore?

Tara Grace: Not necessarily climbed a tree to get a cat down, but we actually do rescue animals that are trapped inside a house fire pretty frequently.

I’ve rescued several dogs over the past couple of years. One of the things that is cool about the calendar is we have some rescue animals in a few of the photos. I think that’s awesome. I was glad to do that part.

CultureMap: What attracted you to become a fire fighter?

TG: I heard about it while I was a personal trainer in a health club. It always interested me. I didn’t have any family members who were in the fire department or anything like that. I had always heard more about female cops than fire fighters.

I met some folks during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo that introduced me to some female fire fighters. I just stepped out and gave it a whirl. It was a challenge and I absolutely loved that part of it.

CultureMap: Did you have to audition for the calendar or did somebody just say you’re going to be the December model?

TG: I did have to audition and that was more nerve wracking than doing the photo shoot. You’re in front of your peers, a formal selection committee. If you’re not used to that, it’s a very strange experience. It’s more than just trying to look cute.

CultureMap: You’re not wearing a bikini or posed in a sexually provocative position. Was that on purpose?

TG: We wanted to show that there are female fire fighters and we are strong. We’re also a limited number. We are less than three percent of the fire fighters in Houston. It’s important that we are represented in the calendar this time.

I like my photo. We were in a house that actually just burned down a week prior to my photos so it was a really cool setting. Plus, I’m proud that the calendar raises awareness of the burn children.

CultureMap: Do fire fighters really slide down poles?

TG: I have done that. I slid down one a couple of weeks ago when I was at Station 20. But they don’t make stations anymore with poles.

CultureMap: How often do you respond to a fire?

TG: It’s pretty regular. We answer for a lot of car fires and truck fires. There are warehouses by my station. We also have a neighborhood. One recent day, we had two car fires and one house fire. So, it’s hit or miss.

CultureMap: Do fire fighters sleep at the station? What is your schedule like?

TG: We all sleep in the dorm together like one big, happy family. It’s like a night out camping. I’m camping with the dudes. It’s a minimum of two 24-hour shifts a week. We work 6:30 am to 6:30 am shifts. The city is short on staffing right now so sometimes we work three days in a row.

CultureMap: Are fire fighters really great cooks? How would you rate yourself?

TG: You can ask the guys in my station: I believe that a few of us have some magic cooking skills for sure. Like last night, I made beef teriyaki with vegetables and Jasmine rice and vegetable egg rolls.

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Support the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association Charitable Foundation and its Burned Children’s initiative by purchasing the 2023 Houston Fire Fighters Calendar online.

Contact Ken at ken@culturemap.com.

hottest headlines of 2025

The 10 hottest CultureMap headlines that had Houston talking in 2025

Places-Unique-Rice University-main building-exterior-1

Photo courtesy of Rice University

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Editor’s note: The time has come to look back the most-read CultureMap articles of 2025. As always, Houstonians take a lot of pride in seeing our city’s institutions and personalities shine on the world stage, so it’s no surprise that readers responded to news about Rice being ranked among the best universities in the world and Sugar Land nearly topping a list of the best places to live in America. Restaurant news remains at the core of our coverage, which is reflected in six of this year’s top 10. Elsewhere, we celebrated Houston companies that are great places to work and embraced our city’s richest billionaire.

Photo courtesy of Rice University

Rice University is one of the best in the world.

Read on for the 10 most popular stories of 2025.

1. 2 Houston universities named among world’s best in 2026 rankings. QS (Quacquarelli Symonds), a London-based provider of higher education data and analytics, compiled its World University Rankings 2026 by using factors such as academic reputation; employer reputation; faculty-student ratio; faculty research; and international research, students, and faculty. Rice, ranked No. 2 in Texas, moved up more than 20 places, and the University of Houston climbed about 100 to No. 556 globally.

2. Houston chef breaks his silence on sudden exit from Woodlands restaurant. Chef Austin Simmons spoke to CultureMap exclusively about his decision to resign from his role as executive chef and partner of Tris, a fine dining steakhouse in The Woodlands. Since then, Simmons has devoted his attention to Chef & Rancher, his cattle business, and burger pop-ups. He’ll open a new restaurant, Charlois by Chef Austin Simmons, in the spring.

3. Totally sweet Houston suburb triumphs as No. 3 best place to live in U.S. Livability.com ranked Sugar Land No. 3 on its list of "the 100 Best Places to Live in 2025." Limited to cities with populations between 75,000 and 500,000, the study considered criteria such as average rent and home prices relative to income. Across the eight main categories, Sugar Land ranked the highest for its health (89), housing and cost of living (88), and economy (85).

4. Pioneering Houston Mexican restaurant will shutter after 44 years. Citing an overall downturn in business and more personal factors, chef-owner Armando Richards said he would close his restaurant Picos this fall. However, a surge in demand has delayed the closure until early 2026. That means Houstonians have a little time left to get signature items such as chilorio, duck with mole, and tamales.

5. 11 Houston companies named best places to work by U.S. News. The annual "U.S. News Best Companies to Work For" report examines thousands of publicly-traded companies around the world to determine the best employers based on six metrics. Chevron, American Bureau of Shipping, Calpine, Hines, and others represented Houston on the list.

6. Houston restaurant served Beyoncé a Southern feast for her first meal in H-Town. When Beyoncé Knowles-Carter returned to Houston for two sold-out shows at NRG Stadium, she and her family turned to downtown restaurant Taste Kitchen + Bar for a Southern feast. The epic spread included jerk lamb chops with deep-fried lobster, smothered chicken with collard greens, and the restaurant’s signature chicken and waffles. Later that weekend, Taste chef-owner Don Bowie shared a photo with Jay-Z.

7. Shaquille O'Neal leaves $1,000 tip at Houston Tex-Mex institution. The NBA Hall-of-Famer, media personality, and restaurateur dined at Ninfa’s Uptown in July. Sitting in the main dining room, he posed for pictures with both fans and the restaurant’s staff. After dining on crispy tacos, he left his server a very generous tip.

8. James Harden's Houston restaurant locked out over $2.2 million in unpaid rent. The former Houston Rocket’s tenure as a restaurant owner came to an abrupt end in September, when the building’s landlord locked out Thirteen for non-payment of rent. Harden opened Thirteen in 2021, shortly after he left the Rockets for the Brooklyn Nets. In July, he signed a two-year, $81.5 million contract with the Los Angeles Clippers.

9. Award-winning Houston steakhouse will close after only 2 years. Although it has achieved success and spots in the Michelin Guide with both Candente and The Pit Room, Sambrooks Hospitality couldn’t find an audience for Andiron, its live fire steakhouse in Montrose. Even after pivoting to a more affordable menu, Andiron wasn’t financially viable. New Orleans restaurateur Malachi DuPre claimed the space for Casa Kenji, a new seafood restaurant that blends Japanese and Latin influences.

10. Richard Kinder is Houston's richest billionaire in 2025, Forbes says. The Kinder Morgan chairman is the 11th richest Texas resident, and ranks as the 108th richest American. Kinder also dethroned Tilman Fertitta to claim the title as the wealthiest Houstonian. The publication estimates Kinder's net worth at $10.6 billion, up from $8.1 billion in 2024.