Chris Rodriguez has always wanted to be a firefighter. Now, after fifteen years with Plant City Fire Rescue, he has been promoted to captain.
To those who know him best, this promotion has been a long time coming.
“The job picked him,” Chief Rick Sullivan, the chief at Station 2 in Plant City where Rodriguez is captain, said. “He didn’t pick the job. He’s always been professional, and he definitely has the desire.”
“It was something I was always interested in from seeing fire helmets and jackets,” Rodriguez said, who worked as a driver engineer for 10 years before becoming captain.
The fire helmets and jackets belonged to Rodriguez’s father, who was a fire chief in Plant City. Although his father died when he was 4 years old, Rodriguez’s dream of becoming a firefighter never dwindled.
“It must be in his blood,” Rodriguez’s mother, Verna McKelvin, said. “It’s just a drive that they have.”
Those who have worked with both Rodriguez and his father agree, seeing remarkable similarities between the two.
“I would do something or make a comment and they would say, ‘You look or act just like your dad,’” Rodriguez said. “I would imagine it’s in my blood, but it’s hard to say.”
The drive for the job led Rodriguez to join the Fire Academy directly after graduating from high school. While getting the necessary education, he also worked as a volunteer firefighter.
Despite the challenges and dangers of the job, Rodriguez never has any fears or concerns.
“I think when you have a passion for something, you don’t look at the bad,” Rodriguez said. “You just look at the good.”
Although the decision for Rodriguez to become a firefighter was an easy one, his McKelvin wasn’t always so sure.
“It kind of shocked me,” McKelvin said about when Rodriguez initially announced that he wanted to join the fire academy.
She might have been shocked, but she was still supportive.
McKelvin pinned Rodriguez when he joined Plant City Fire Rescue and was there cheering him on when he was promoted to captain less than two weeks ago.
“I’m a really proud mom,” McKelvin said. “I’m sure his dad would be proud of him. He has excelled in many ways.”
Now, Rodriguez is focused on his new responsibilities as captain.
“Making sure we all go home in the morning is my biggest priority,” he said. “Right now, my goal is solely and entirely focused on being the best shift leader that I can be as a captain.”
The job is not an easy one. Rodriguez and his crew often work 24-hour shifts, never knowing what they might face when they get a call. At that point, passion kicks in.
“When it’s all said and done, we’ve got to go to work,” Rodriguez said.
For him, the hardest part of these 24-hour shifts is being away from his wife of 10 years, Erin, and 2-year-old daughter, Adalynn.
“That’s one thing about this job,” Rodriguez said. “You don’t stop. You put other things on the back burner and deal with the problem later.”
As Plant City Fire Rescue works on advancing the departments and making changes for the better, Rodriguez looks forward to being part of the growth and accepting the challenges to come.
“It’s a team effort,” he said. “There’s a new fire that’s built up in me … with this new position. There is a huge sense of accomplishment that all the work for many months has paid off.”
Occasionally, Rodriguez and his team see how their work has made a lasting impact.
“It hasn’t happened a tremendous amount of times,” Rodriguez said. “But when people come back and thank you for something that you’ve done, that’s beyond any type of paycheck we can get here.”
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.