Interview with a Firefighter: Assistant Chief Daniel Williams

A 911 call might be routine for responders, but it is usually the worst day of someone’s life, and that mindset changes how you show up. We sit down with Assistant Fire Chief Danny Williams to talk about what Allen Fire Department actually does day to day, why the job is often more medical than fire, and how a single ride-out can set a 25-year career in motion.

We get practical about service and staffing, too. Danny walks us through Allen Fire hiring standards, including the requirement that every firefighter is also an EMT and paramedic, plus the job function physical test that mirrors real fireground work. If you have ever wondered what it takes to earn the uniform, this breakdown makes it clear, honest, and detailed.

One of the most important parts of the conversation is how Allen Fire and Allen Police train together for high-risk events like active attacks and SWAT operations. We talk about ALERRT-based response, operating in a warm zone with the right protective gear, and why training side by side reduces chaos when seconds matter. The end goal is simple: get lifesaving care to victims faster and work as one team on scene.

We also highlight community programs that prevent tragedy before the sirens start, including the Steady Together fall prevention initiative, donation options that fund safety tools, and free CPR and Stop the Bleed classes that empower residents to act in the first critical minutes. Add in Citizens Fire Academy and Junior Fire Academy, and you get a clear picture of how public safety becomes a shared responsibility across the city. Subscribe, share this with someone who loves public safety, and leave a review with the biggest takeaway you want more people to hear.

Transcript

Welcome And Meet Fire Leadership

Officer Sam Rippamonti 0:02

Welcome back to another episode of Alan Police Behind the Badge. We're your hosts, Officer Sam Rick Mani and Alexis Birmingham.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham 0:08

And today our guest is Assistant Fire Chief Danny Williams. Thank you for joining us.

Assistant Fire Chief Daniel Williams 0:12

Thanks for having me. Yeah. Thanks for coming on. So we're doing things a little different. I just, you know, you're you're our first non-police department. Yes, it's so special.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham 0:20

Our first crosstalk.

25 Years Through Allen Fire

Speaker 2 0:21

Yeah, so special. So you're the assistant fire chief of the fire department. How long have you been with the fire department?

Assistant Fire Chief Daniel Williams 0:27

So I've been with Allen Fire for 25 years. Just hit my 25-year mark uh last month. How old are you? 45. Started when you were a youngster. Yes. So you've gone through all the ranks. Started out as a firefighter back in 01, promoted to driver, promoted to captain, was division chief, and now assistant chief of operations. So we have three divisions within the fire department: operations, logistics, prevention. And so operations, that's that's normally what you think of when you call 911. That's the crews that come out on the fire trucks, the ambulances. Uh when you when you're sick, when you're injured, when you have a car fire, when you have a house fire, that's operations. And so that's what I'm responsible for is operations crews.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 1:05

Did you start out with Alan when you first became an That's it?

A Ride-Out Changed His Path

Speaker 1 1:08

Been here, been here my whole life. Wow. All 25 here. All 25 is here. All 25 is here. It's impressive.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 1:15

What brought you into wanting to be a firefighter?

Speaker 1 1:18

So there was a brand new captain back in the day that his dad worked with my dad, and he asked if I wanted to come do a ride out. That was uh back then Captain Grimes. And so he invited me to come up and do a ride out, fell in love with it, went to Fire Academy, EMT, paramedic, and got hired, been here ever since.

Speaker 4 1:38

Wow, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 1:39

So when you started, did you ever have was promotion like your was that your career goals from the start?

Speaker 1 1:46

Not at all. Not at all. Uh I planned on, you know, the fire department, you call it riding backwards, you know, I planned on riding jump seat my whole career. Never anticipated doing anything other than being a firefighter, and uh had no intention of promoting whatsoever. But uh, you know, as as the years went by and you know, promotions took place, it's yeah, I'm in a good place. I'm happy.

Calls That Show Up At Midnight

Officer Sam Rippamonti 2:06

And you've been here for 25 years. Do you have any interesting stories or great stories you could share with us?

Home Life Ministry And Brisket

Speaker 1 2:12

Let's see. Uh Rip was talking earlier about the cat in the tree. And so I've been on that call with a cat in the tree. It really happens. Uh we've we've been on that. Uh got the cat out of the tree. Uh, we've we've never seen a cat skeleton in a tree. So eventually they will come down. But if yours gets stuck in a tree, we will come down and set a ladder and get it down. Uh been there for uh plenty of births, uh, been there for, you know, when people pass on and really kind of anything in between. Uh people call fire and police for, you know, this, they they call us for everything. Uh I've heard it said that we're agencies of last resort because the middle of the night they call FD, they call PD. They're looking for somebody to help. And somehow we always figure it out. So we've been there, we go on water leaks, we go on odor investigations, we go on anything and everything. We've ran calls together, man. Uh, and it's been uh it's it's never a dull moment, it's always something different. So been there for all the crazy calls, all the what seems like mundane calls, but at the end of the day, we're just we're there to help people.

Speaker 2 3:14

So who's Danny Williams outside of the fire department?

Speaker 1 3:19

Outside the fire department. Uh so I have a beautiful wife, have two awesome kiddos. Uh, we're we're very active in our church. I'm actually uh also a minister, so I'm actually getting ordained next month. And so we thank you. Work in our church, uh, hang out with my family, love to go camping, uh, hang out with wife and kids, and it's just awesome, man.

Speaker 2 3:42

You do some cooking too, don't you?

Speaker 1 3:44

Oh, love smoking brisket. Love smoking brisket, doing barbecue. Uh, love cooking. Uh, we we we're pretty we've got it down pretty good over at the FD. Uh we cook for PD all the time. We're actually cooking for you guys uh next week. It's on the calendar. It's on the calendar. It's on the calendar. Yeah, love cooking brisket. Uh it's awesome, man.

Speaker 2 4:01

Do you have a good place, good hookup on some brisket?

Speaker 1 4:05

I like HEB. I like HEB. They have awesome briskets, they always have good stuff. Market Street's also awesome. Uh they always have quality, consistent. You know, so we'll cook. Uh the biggest crowd that I'll cook for is usually at our church. We'll cook for about 120 people. Oh wow. And so, you know, that's that's an all-night affair. You know, you're cooking six briskets, 30, 40 pounds of sausage. Uh, it's it's it's a lot. It's a lot for a few years. Using a pellet smoker? I use stick for beef. Yeah, I use a stick smoker for beef. Uh, rotate everything through, got a system down. Very nice. Traditional. I like it. Yeah, absolutely.

Hiring Now And The Fitness Test

Officer Sam Rippamonti 4:38

Are you guys hiring right now? How does that look?

Speaker 1 4:40

We actually just posted a new hiring, so we are looking to hire five more firefighters. Wow. Uh, and so we hired 11 back in the fall, and so we're just kind of getting on this rotation where uh individuals are retired and we're growing. You know, we're we've we've we've kind of hit that that phase where we're gonna be testing essentially every year. And so uh we have a testing process that literally just got posted this weekend, and so we're looking to test in June, and so probably get those individuals actually on shift in August, and so it's a process, you know. In Allen, uh everybody has to be a firefighter, EMT, and paramedic before uh before you can actually work here. So everybody here, that's one of the unique things about Allen Fire is that everybody's a paramedic. Uh and so we're we're pretty selective, and you know, you you have to be you have to be certified in all of those things before you can start working. So excited about that. We'll get fully staffed. Uh, we've got uh you know medic six in place. That's what we were able to accomplish with our last hiring group. And so uh just continuing on. We got a like I said, we've got a test coming up, so look out for that.

Speaker 2 5:44

So what's uh what is you know, we our PD test, you have a written test, and then we have a physical agility test, we call it the Cooper test. Sure. So what is the fire physical test?

Speaker 1 5:54

So the physical test is a is a job function test, and so they start out with a ladder climb on the aerial ladder, so they have to climb that. Uh, they they come down from there, they have to do some uh mechanical type things where there are coupling hoses and dragging hoses uh that are dry and you know putting nozzles on and that kind of stuff. And so then we have a charged hose advance, uh, and you have to do like a serpentine pattern to make sure you and you know you can do all that kind of stuff. Uh from there, you you have to go up and climb the tower with a hose pack on your shoulder, uh, pull hoses up over, you know, hand over hand with ropes, pull them over the edge, go back down, hit the the Kaiser machine, which is like the sled sledgehammer simulator, and then finish it off with a like a 200-pound mannequin drag, which is just by that time you're pretty aghassed. You know, you're yeah, you're pretty smoked at that point. So uh we do that. So yeah, we start off with the the written test, and right after the written test, those candidates come over and do the physical agility test and interviews, background checks, all that kind of stuff, and then like I said, hopefully get all those people back on shift in August.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 6:56

How long does that process typically take?

Speaker 1 6:59

For the testing process? So, like I said, we're gonna test in June. So we've got the we've got the test posted now. It takes a while for individuals to submit all their data and all that kind of stuff. Uh, because once again, we don't we don't send them to school, we don't send them to Fire Academy, so they have to send in all their certificates. Um so from posting until hiring, it's it's usually about like a four-month process to make sure everything's good to go. And actually, you know, you're especially last time we have 11 schedules of candidates to coordinate. We have people from out of state, and you know, so making they they have to actually make the move to come here. And so getting those schedules lined up and coordinated before they can actually show up all on the same day because we put them through like a two-week orientation. It's it's skills-based, it's knowledge-based, and so they have to do that. So for two weeks, eight to five, uh, we have a fleet of instructors that are awesome at you know, educating them on how we do things in Allen. And so it's it's uh to to get them actually on shift, you're looking, you know, four or five months.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 7:57

Wow.

Speaker 2 7:58

How tall is the ladder?

Speaker 1 7:59

Uh for the aerial climb is 75 feet. Yeah, yeah, 75 feet. I'm not climbing that ladder. The 75 foot climb is the easiest part of it. That's the ladder has to be kind of moving though. Oh, it's sweet. Yeah, no. Absolutely.

Speaker 2 8:15

So I think that's a great opportunity for like our SLAT team does monthly training. Oh, yeah. I think we should have them do your PT tests. Yeah, we'll change it up. We'll change it. Have you come offer? In their full gear, though. In full gear, 100%.

Joint Training For Active Attack Response

Speaker 1 8:27

Oh yeah, don't cheat. Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it and set that up.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 8:32

Yeah, we do partner on a lot of things. Like, can you touch base on some of those trainings that we have?

Speaker 1 8:37

Absolutely. So, you know, at the at the shift level, back when I was truck captain, we you know, we we ran calls together. We ran calls with PD all the time. And so uh once I promoted to division chief, I said, hey, we we really need to start doing some more training uh with PD on joint efforts uh for active shooter, for you know, SWAT type calls, for any of these incidents where you know you just don't want it to be chaos at the time of the incident. Right. And so Lieutenant Whitman and I were we were actually at a conference together. And so we said, hey, let's let's see what we can do to maybe just kind of start training together and doing some stuff. And so before that, we just really didn't do a lot of training, any kind of joint training. We just kind of showed up and made it work. Uh and that you know, that was back in 2018. And so now we started researching, we said, hey, what's a good system where we can actually start training together? So we adhered to the alert standard, which PD was already doing for like active shooter stuff. But they came up with a new system that says, hey, let's let's work together. If there is an active attack, we can go in and actually get those individuals out. Because once again, everybody in Allen is a paramedic. And I talked with the fire chief back then and I said, look, we've we have all of these paramedics, like it we we have to be able to go in. If we wait until PD secures a scene, that's hours and hours and hours. That's that's way too long. And so I said, let's, you know, back then that was a bold thing to even think about sending firefighter medics into a scene that wasn't secured. And so, you know, we we got vests, we got helmets, uh, we we started training with PD. We started, you know, one class at a time where you can do basically 15 PD, 15 FD. And it's it's like, man, this is gonna take forever to get our personnel through this. But we kept plugging away doing the class after class after class, scenario after scenario. And uh, you know, we've we've worked together for a number of years now where honestly, I think, you know, people coming into AFD and APD, it's just kind of taken for granted now that we that we work together and train together. Uh, but it's grown into, you know, we also we also work with PD on SWAT type calls. We we go out, we dedicate everything. That was never a thing. Oh, never, never. That was never accepted. And so uh, you know, it's it's a it's a great relationship. They'll call me and say, hey, we have something that's coming up, need you to attend this. We have data that you know only I get to have, and we dedicate an ambulance, we dedicate personnel to it that are trained for that. Uh, and so it's it's a it's a very good relationship. Uh, you talked about like your SWAT trials. We send an ambulance to the SWAT trials and make sure that PD's safe and you know good to go and if if anything's needed that we take care of that gut check they do at the end. Absolutely, it's brutal, man. Zero desire to do that. But it's I mean, it's a very good relationship with APD and AF. Right. Uh a lot of cities, man, there's there's a lot of conflict. Oh, it is. So we work together really, really well.

Speaker 2 11:24

So in my 19 years, so I've seen I've seen a lot of changes. So early on, you know, we show up on calls and might know the medic or the on scene, but now since we do so much cross-training and stuff together, like everyone we all know each other. Yeah.

Speaker 1 11:46

I mean, you know the person, you know their their you they know your expectations, you know their expectations, capabilities, capacity, uh, and really just what to expect from each other. I mean, we just we just pulled off six, you know, large-scale scenarios for active shooter at a movie theater. And I mean, man, it it every scenario ended up going I I mean that's that's just unheard of if that had been attempted in other organizations. So, like I said, I think a lot of people just kind of take it for granted, but it's like, man, that's that's a lot of work to have that trust and that relationship between PD and FD.

Speaker 2 12:19

So absolutely, you and Chief Boyd and Chief Die at the police department, you know, to have a vision, you know, working together and it is making it work, you know, it cost a few dollars or whatever it takes, or people have to fill in some roles to while others go to training, it's it's hands down work that and it's you you like I said before, we we always kind of showed up and made things work, but on on the day of a bad incident, like you you don't want to just hope that everything's gonna be okay.

Speaker 1 12:48

Right. And you you those are one of the situations you don't want to wing it. You know, we're good at winging it on a lot of things if it's a cat in a tree or something like that, but it's like on one of these incidents, like we we have to have a plan. And so that's what you know, the relationship, the expectations, and and really just the the ability to work together, that's it's been key.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 13:06

Yeah, a few weeks ago we were able to see it all you know play out in action, and it was actually really great seeing you guys how you work together and the relationships that you guys have with one another. It would just it just works seamlessly.

Speaker 1 13:18

And the back and forth. I mean, that's where it's like like I've said before, it's like look, man, we can we can show up on scene, have this banter back and forth, make the jokes back and forth. So when we show up the day of an incident, there's not an ego or there's not a you know who's in charge or whatever. It's like this this is the same company that I've worked with before. And so uh yeah, there's there's a lot of behind the scenes banter that we know who your heroes are and make things safe for you.

Speaker 2 13:41

Now there's that used to be the joke. Now y'all actually go in what's considered a warm zone. A warm zone, yeah. So y'all have vests y'all throw on, you know, for protection.

Speaker 1 13:49

And there are a lot of similarities between PD and FD. The main one is uh, you know, everybody wants to be a firefighter. So we can cook and sleep, play games.

Speaker 3 13:59

Those are all true.

Speaker 1 14:00

Those that those things don't hurt me, man.

Speaker 2 14:02

Those are you know, I say that, and my son that's in college broke the news, and I think he was scared to tell me. Like he told his mom first. She's like, hey, Hayden has something to tell you. Okay. And he's like, That's scary. Yeah, I think I'm gonna be a fireman.

Speaker 1 14:19

I'm like, I lost one. Yes, good decision maker. Good decision maker.

Speaker 2 14:25

Over the weekend, a conversation was had, and my youngest, I have two boys, my youngest boy. He's like, Yeah, I think I would want to be a fireman too, wherever Hayden ends up. Yeah, so I'm like, oh my goodness.

Speaker 1 14:36

And that's honestly, there's there have been uh quite a few APD officers that said, Hey, you know, uh my child wants to be a firefighter. And so there's there's quite a few that are actually working at other entities. Uh, when I'm working here, that you know, said, Hey, you know, and that that just goes again to the relationship. It's like, hey, come over here and do a ride out. Once again, that's how I got my start. Somebody invited me to come up and do a write out. So uh there's been countless people that want to come up and just try it out and see what they think. And so, yeah, come up and do a write out, see if this is a career path that you like. And man, we're all we're all about getting people into the fire service, good people into the fire service.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 15:11

And if they want to do like a ride along, how do they reach out to you guys?

Speaker 1 15:14

So they can contact me, uh, they can contact our fire administration, uh at just the the the uh you know 214-509-4400 and say, hey, I I'm interested in doing a ride out, uh something like that. And so yeah, we and it's just it's that first step. Like I said, it took one ride for me to figure out like, hey, this is what I want to do. Uh, we've had other people that come up and did write outs like nope. Something else anything else, this is not my gig. And so uh yeah, that's that's what we're all about, man, getting good people into the fire service.

Steady Together Fall Prevention Work

Speaker 2 15:44

So, right now in the fire department, do you all have any big projects going? I think there's one steady together.

Speaker 1 15:49

Yes, so uh our public education team, uh Jill Hernandez, Tony Cooper, uh Chief Boyd, and and it's really just a lot of people throughout the department, throughout the city. Uh it's it's a group effort. They've they've come in and done, you know, uh promotions about it and all this kind of stuff. And so we we look, you know, we we do have an aging population, and a lot of the calls that we were going on were these falls and these lift assists and these kind of things. And so it's like maybe we can go and work on the prevention side, uh, just like we have a fire prevention team that you know is out there to prevent fires. What's an education piece that we can maybe help our community with so that those dangers aren't there, those hazards aren't there? And so they will go in uh to communities, to senior communities, to uh assisted living facilities, and they really will come in and do an assessment. This would be a nightmare here with all the cords and cables. Uh they they come in and say, hey, what are some of the hazards that we can help prevent? Uh, you know, trying to keep people from climbing ladders. And so they'll they'll get like like the grab tools, or they'll get, you know, uh they'll they'll assist them with walkers, they'll assist them with you know covering up cords and removing some of those hazards and hopefully make that impact to where you know there's there's not one of those detrimental falls, and you know, it's it's a serious injury. And so that's that's kind of the goal with that they've done the drive to thrive with an effort to try to promote safe driving, which hopefully promotes you know less accidents. And so that's what we're in the that's what we're interested in with a lot of these initiatives is you know, how can we actually impact uh and not just to cut down call volume, but to cut down unnecessary incidents. That's where people are suffering through those. So that's the that's the initiative behind the Steady Together project.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 17:31

And you're taking in donations for that, right?

Speaker 1 17:34

Absolutely.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 17:34

What are some of the things that people can donate?

Speaker 1 17:37

Uh there are, you know, it's it's funny, we we we give out like the grippy socks, uh, we the the grab things, the the the handrails, uh for, you know, if if people need to, you know, uh an assistance up uh in the shower, any of those things. So they'll they'll put those those bars in. Uh and you can go to our website at allenfire.org and there's a list there. Uh they can also drop those things off at 310 Century Parkway at our Central Fire Station Administration. Uh, and so we're taking in donations for all of those things all the time.

Speaker 2 18:07

That's awesome. That is awesome. Is there any uh I know there's some services you offer to the community that are free, right?

Speaker 1 18:13

So we Tony Cooper is a master educator. He has uh he came in with a vision, you know, eight years ago. He said, I would like to start teaching CPR classes because we had one particular incident where somebody came in and it was a CPR safe, and this gentleman was riding his bike with a biking team, and somebody had just taken a CPR class, and during the ride here in Allen, he went into cardiac arrest, falls out, and somebody on scene started doing CPR. That of course they called 911, they our crew showed up, and uh this guy had a complete save. He was a complete healthy save. We went and visited him in the hospital and made a full recovery. And one of the things that his son said, this was right around Father's Day, and he said, Hey, you know, I just want to tell you thanks for giving me back my dad, but more importantly, he's the same dad as before. And so that's the difference that the community CPR can can achieve is you know, we it's gonna take us minutes, even PD. It's gonna take us minutes to get there. And in that interim, civilians can be doing those things. Uh, we also teach stop the bleed. And so, you know, minutes can be you know the difference between life and death on if somebody's bleeding out. So we've we've got stop the bleed kits all throughout the community. We've we've Tony has trained, you know, thousands of people at this point. Uh we work with PD on CPR, we work with PD on Stop the Bleed. Uh, we've given stop the bleed kits to officers, you know, and so it's those it's those efforts where individuals can be part of the help and not just be standing there helpless waiting on us to show up. Right. And so Tony teaches CPR, stop the bleed, first aid, all of those things all of the time. He's teaching. It's monthly, yep. It's it's monthly. Free to our citizens. Yep, absolutely free to citizens. Uh, you go through the process and you know you get a ticket, but that's just to count, you know, how many people are going to be in the class. And so there's no charge. Uh, everything's free. And uh people can you know obtain stop the bleed kits for personal use, and and that's what we want. We worked with the school district, we've worked with the community, individuals, and that's what we want to do is just try to help eliminate some of those things.

Speaker 2 20:28

Where can they sign up?

Speaker 1 20:29

So they can if they go to allenfire.org, uh they can or they can call the main line 214-509-4400, get all that information uh and find out when the next upcoming classes are for both of those classes. That's awesome. It's cool.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 20:43

Yeah, and on our side, we have the Citizens Police Academy. You guys have something very similar, right?

Speaker 1 20:48

We have Citizens Fire Academy, we also have Junior Fire Academy. And so we're uh we're about to start our junior fire academy, which is a program that Jill puts on, uh Jill Hernandez puts on. And so uh junior firefighters can they they get to go through a lot of the same stuff. It's cool, it's cool. So it's uh it's a couple of week class where I mean there they get their bunker gear, they get their uniforms, they get all of the stuff. So it's it's a really cool process. We also have the you know, the the Citizens Fire Academy. Uh individuals get to come up, they they were just doing uh vehicle extrication. So uh Chief Don Bailey was up there teaching them how to do, they get to put all the gear on and cut the cars up. And oh yeah, absolutely. So they do full scale, full scale exercises. So this the the Citizens Fire Academy is it's held at Central Central Station at 310th Century. Uh, but they go all over, they get to actually fight fire, they get to cut up cars, they get to do the first aid. Uh it's it's it's a cool class, it's a really cool class.

Speaker 2 21:46

Yeah, y'all use the driving truck for some of the oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 21:48

They they get to drive a fire truck, they get to drive a fire engine. It's and it's it's awesome. They love it, they love it. It's it's nerve-wracking for some of us, but you know, but no, they get to drive the fire.

Speaker 2 22:00

Engine, they get to I can only imagine. So for our citizen police count, we do the driving track. So I always go and I I show them how to drive the track and then we let them drive. But these are just Tahoes. And being in the pasture seat of the Tahoe is terrifying. I can only imagine pasture seat. They don't get to drive the million dollars.

Speaker 1 22:18

They don't get to drive our new ones. Going out at station five. Exactly. They don't get to drive the ladder truck. That's where the back wheels also.

Speaker 2 22:29

Exactly. Yeah, yeah. That's we're no yeah. Good call on that.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 22:34

So for like the junior fire, like how old do those like what is there an age cap or so there is an age cap.

Speaker 1 22:40

It's middle school. It's middle school ages. And so uh those those fill up quick uh and they you know they actually have to apply for it.

Speaker 2 22:47

It's over the summer.

Speaker 1 22:48

It's uh yeah, so it's through the summer. And so uh we work with a school district and it's one, you know, it's a it's a it's a program, and so kids can sign up for it. And uh yeah, they there's actually competition to get into it because it fills up, it fills up every year, and so uh it's kind of like a process of going through Fire Academy and that kind of stuff. And so there's there's competitions and challenges all through it, uh, and they get to do all kinds of cool stuff. It's awesome.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 23:11

And then for the Citizen Fire, is there like is it 18 and up?

Speaker 1 23:14

Yes, 18 and up. Okay. 18 and up, yep. And they can, like I said, they can come up they and after during and after the Citizens Fire Academy, they get to actually do ride outs and they get to hang out with the crews and go on calls and all that kind of stuff. And so uh, yeah, it's once again, it's a it's kind of a a starter for somebody that may be interested. They may go through the Citizens Fire Academy and decide, hey, I want to actually be a firefighter, you know, and and so this is kind of that intro.

Speaker 2 23:39

So and there's no calls, no cost, I'm sure. I don't want to assume, but do they get their stop the bleed and the CPR training during the Yes? They get stop the bleed, they get CPR, everything.

Speaker 1 23:48

Yeah, it's a no-brainer. It's awesome. It's awesome.

Speaker 2 23:51

Stick the fire academy and get into it.

Speaker 1 23:52

I saw last week that Tony was actually teaching CPR for the Citizens Police Academy. Yes, he did. Yeah, another example.

Speaker 2 23:58

He's a big help, but he's so patient.

Speaker 1 24:01

Oh, yeah. He's he can teach anybody, even police.

Speaker 2 24:04

Oh yeah. I know that's hey, we are probably the toughest. We can be tough. We are tough. Uh yeah, Tony's amazing. He my nephew was going through the he got oh yeah, he went through the fire paramedic, put himself through, and that paramedic test is tough. Oh, it's tough, yeah. It's uh it's no joke. And so uh Tony offered to sure to work with him after hours one day, and he came up here. I think he met with him a couple times and he's done a few times. Just made it make sense for my nephew, Clinton, and now he's a fire paramedic out uh out in Van Alsteen and test on the first time after Tony worked with him.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 24:44

If there's one thing you would like to share with the community, what would it be?

Speaker 1 24:48

Um, you know, the the the thing that you know I would like to share with the community and just you know honestly remind PD and FD, uh you know, we're here to help. That that's what the job is. Sometimes uh the calls are exciting, you know, some sometimes it gets the adrenaline pumping, and other times it just absolutely seems mundane, you know, and it seems like this is just a run-of-the-mill call. Uh but the thing is, is FDPD, that's what we're here for, is to help people. At the end of the day, people trust us, you know, on their worst day. You know, 911 to us is not that big of a deal, right? I mean, we we that's what our job is. But for citizens who actually pick up the phone and call 911, that's a big day for them. And so uh, you know, we just we want to continue to whatever the need is, whatever the need is, uh we just want to be there to help. And so that's that's the job. Uh that's the point, the whole point of the job is for us to get out there and to help people to help the community. We we love and appreciate the support from our community. We have a a strong public safety town, and so uh we absolutely appreciate all of the things that the community does for us.

Speaker 2 25:58

You know, we talk about the brotherhood or the family, how the PD and FD has grown. Little quick story on that is I was first on scene of a uh two years ago high school student that took her own life. Uh and uh that was a tough call. But I think it was uh you know about six hours later I was I was home kind of decompressing and I got a text from Darren Whitley. Yep. You know, he's a battalion chief now, right? At the fire department, just to check on me. Yeah. And I was like, man, it kind of set me back at first because he was like, Hey, I just want to check on and see how you're doing. I was like, Who is this? Yeah, well I knew it was I knew who it was, yeah, but I was like, what is he talking about? And then I was like, he's checking on me from today's call. And I'm like, man, that that never happened in the past.

Speaker 1 26:48

No, never. And you know, we've that's one of the things in the fire service that uh in sp specifically in Allen, uh, you know, we have uh relationships with clinicians, with psychologists, uh that it's available to FD and PD. And you know, there are times when personnel from dispatch, when personnel from PD, they'll reach out to us asking for assistance. Our firefighters will ask for assistance, whether it's for mental health, whether it's for any of those resources. And, you know, we help take care of the cost of those for PD, FD, for, you know, we we we never ask, you know, we never ask who's going or where they're going or anything like that. But if we can be there, especially, you know, that's a it's a heavy job sometimes. It's a heavy job. And you know, the that trust for somebody to reach out or that trust for somebody just to give you a text or give you a call, uh, that's that's pretty rare. That's pretty rare in public safety. Uh, but you know, here in Allen, there's there's a lot of things that are, you know, kind of rarity. And so it meant a lot to me. Absolutely. And it's like that's what we're here for. Yeah. We're here to help the community, we're here to help each other. That's what that's what it's all about.

Speaker 2 27:58

The days of just burying it down deep, what they expected you to do, you know, in the old days, just bury it down.

Speaker 1 28:03

Absolutely, absolutely. But now it's like I'm glad that there is you know a resource that we can reach out to to try to get help to just talk get through the tough days, talk to each other. Uh, we have a peer support team where PD and FD will talk through calls, they'll talk through incidents, they'll call each other. Uh, we'll call, check on dispatch, because that's one of the things that gets forgotten a lot is you know, dispatch is sitting there taking those calls, and they don't get to see the resolution of the call. They don't get to see what happens, and they're on to the next incident. And so uh our personnel, Captain Truett specifically, is uh very good about calling and finding out these these incidents and reaching out to our dispatch personnel, checking in, just making sure they're okay, seeing what they need. And so it's uh it's very much a family environment here. I love it.

Speaker 2 28:47

It's yeah, we pick on each other, but then when we got each other's back, we're allowed to pick on each other, but nobody else can. Nobody else. But in all seriousness, Chief Williams, you've always been amazing to work with. Like anytime I call you or text you, I may get some comment back first, but then I know that you're gonna follow it up with whatever I whatever we're needing. You're gonna be there to help. And that's what we're here from.

Speaker 1 29:14

And you're back at you. That's the same exact way, and that's what it's supposed to be.

Speaker 2 29:17

And chance is not my boss. So you can that's easily respond. But we appreciate you coming out today talking to us. It's an honor to be here. Thank you for about your heroes.

Speaker 1 29:30

Absolutely, and this is it. That's it, man.

Speaker 2 29:33

So if you'd like to learn more about the Allen Police Department or the Allen Fire Department, you can go to Allenpolice.org or Allenfire.org.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 29:41

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