Parker is Ward 6 Fire’s first full time Fire Chief

By Teri Parker

Todd Parker has been the part-time Fire Chief for Ward 6 Fire Dept. After serving as part time Chief for the past several years since Tim Gilland retired, Monday, Jan. 20 was his first day as the very first Full Time Fire Chief for Ward 6.

Parker joined the dept as a volunteer on his 18th birthday – Apr. 29, 1991. He has given almost 34 years of extremely dedicated service to the fire department and to the community.

He was also my main motivation for joining the fire dept in January 1992. I saw how much he loved it so I wanted to be a part of it also.

He has responded to thousands of emergencies, taught thousands of hours of fire training classes and is one of the most knowledgeable emergency response instructors and first responders I’ve ever known.

I’ve never, ever hesitated to back him up on a hose line or have him as backup on a hose line inside a structure or at any other type of emergency. There have been some scary situations we’ve personally encountered but I trust him with my life, as all of our firefighters do. I know if I’m with him or working on a fire scene that he is in command of, I will go home safe.

His first day as full time Fire Chief started at 12:15 this morning for a working structure fire during a major snowstorm. He then worked until late that evening making sure all five of our fire stations were tended to, spending hours on a tractor removing snow from the station parking lots and driveways, then traveled all of the major roads in our fire district to check for any issues that needed to be handled.

Yes, I’m his twin sister, but I know first hand how much he does for the department and the citizens in our area, how many hours he spends doing the job that he loves and I am beyond proud of him. He is one in a million!

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