Reprint from the Progress Times - June 22, 2007
©Progress Times 2007 - All Rights Reserved

Mission Fire Chief receives state recognition

In April of this year, Mission Fire Chief Ricardo Saldaña was named the Rio Grande Firemen and Fire Marshals Fire Fighter of the Year. Now, just one month later, Saldaña has been honored again by being recognized as the State Firemen and Fire Marshals of Texas’ Fire Fighter of the Year.

The award, which is given annually to one fire fighter in the state who has shown acts of heroism, involvement in the community, innovativeness and training, as well as other exemplary attributes, was given to Saldaña after he was selected among a field of 12 applicants to participate in the final interview phase held at the state’s annual Fire Fighter Convention in Amarillo, Texas.

Saldaña, who has served as the Mission Fire Chief since 1997, says fire fighting is in his blood.

"I’ve been here a total of 28 years," said Saldaña. "I started off as a volunteer fire fighter and in 1981 I was hired as a career fire fighter. My family is a fire fighting family. My father, Abelardo Saldaña served as the Mission Fire Marshal and I have three brothers who have all served as volunteer fire fighters and my mother and sister served in the Ladies Auxiliary."

Through all those years, Saldaña says the department has undergone many changes.

"After September 11 the fire service was labeled an all-hazards response organization. It’s not longer just fire fighting," said Saldaña. "Now we’re exposed to hazardous materials, special operations, confined space and swift water rescues as well as structural collapse and the enforcement side like arson investigation and building construction inspection."

Keeping up with the department’s wide array of responsibilities hasn’t been easy, said Saldaña, but he gives the credit to the city’s administrators who have allowed Mission’s first responders to not just respond, but to plan ahead.

"This award shows what this organization is all about," said Saldaña. It’s not about Chief Saldaña, it’s about the Mission Fire Department. It also goes to show that our city fathers allow us to be a proactive organization and allow me, as their leader in the fire department to be proactive in exposing the City of Mission and the fire department to the State of Texas as innovators in the fire service."

Under Saldaña’s direction, the Mission Fire Department’s Special Operations Team was recognized by the Texas Fire Chief’s Association. The department has built two fire stations and are currently building a central fire station which, according to the Chief, will have a training room that can be converted into an emergency operations center should the city face a disaster and need to put key people in a safe facility.

The department has also acquired $397,000 in federal grant money for fire equipment and to create a hazardous material team as well as secured three fire prevention grants including the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant. The SAFER Grant the city received was for $1.2 million to hire 12 new fire fighters.

It’s this kind of proactive approach Saldaña believes has made his department one of the best.

"We don’t sit back," said Saldaña. “We look for whatever is available to help us make this organization more functional and meet the demands of the growth and to provide the best emergency services for the citizens of Mission and its visitors."