SAN ANGELO, Texas — As some firefighters hang up their gear for the final time, others are starting new roles and carrying on a long-lasting legacy.
On Sept. 20, the San Angelo Fire Department hosted a celebration honoring four new retirees (two of which were present) and four simultaneous promotions.
The event was held at the McNease Convention Center, 501 Rio Concho Dr. and was free to the public.
"We always talk about quality of life and how important it is for people who choose to live here in San Angelo to look at us as a city to move to and they talk about our fire department," San Angelo Mayor Brenda Gunter said to attendees. "The professionalism that everyone says that we have as an organization, the leadership that we have ensures that professionalism continues."
Following Gunter's speech, SAFD Chief Patrick Brody called Christopher Little, Travis Holle, Sammy Westerman and Eric Bryan to the front individually as they were each pinned with new badges signifying their roles.
Little, Holle and Westerman were all promoted to driver, while Bryan took on his new role as lieutenant.
"In my position, I hope to be a leadership role, work really hard at just furthering the mission of the fire department and just, we're good guys but there's always room for improvement so working hard makes ourselves and each other better," Bryan said.
Bryan and his coworkers spent three months preparing for an exam to determine whether they would fill these new positions.
At the ceremony, driver Corey Taylor and Lieutenant Robert Sparks retired, allowing the new spots to open up.
However, the process towards promotion isn't an easy one.
"Because our promotional process is so competitive, everybody involved in the system, they put 100% of their effort into it and we've seen 99s on these exams, we've seen 98s," Brody said. "Our last promotional exam, the top grade was a 94 and the lowest grade was a 70."
In order to be promoted, firefighters need to score 90% or higher on the exam. They are given 90 days to study a 15-hour course with no professor and no homework.
Brody said in order to prepare for the test, SAFD members must read an average of five books at approximately 3,000 pages each.
"That's a true civil service organization which is what we are and it's 100% based on that performance on that written exam," he said.
Although he is proud to promote his current team members, Brody also feels the weight of losing four long-term firefighters.
"We impress upon our senior members 'pass it on,' pass it on give the people that are beneath you, give the people that are behind you the knowledge that you wish your superior officers would've given you when you were starting up," he said.
The retirement and promotional ceremonies typically happen twice a year, honoring the present and past of the SAFD.
