Pasadena is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. It is the second-largest city in Harris County, 17th-largest in Texas, and 162nd largest in the United States. The area was founded in 1893 by John H. Burnett of Galveston. Burnett, the founder, named the area after Pasadena, California because of the perceived lush vegetation. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the city's population was 149,043. The Pasadena Volunteer Fire Department is the largest all volunteer municipal fire department in the United States.