The Cedar Park Fire Department is celebrating its 50th anniversary today, May 5, 2022.
Cedar Park Fire Chief James Mallinger says, “I just want to thank the original members and all of the members who make us who we are today. Their excellence and their professionalism started this organization and that’s something that I strive to continue every single day.”
On May 5, 1972, a small group of volunteers started the Cedar Park Fire Department. They had one fire truck: a used Ward La France Air Force crash truck from Granite Shoals. At the time, Cedar Park’s population was around 700 and the only traffic signal was a flashing yellow light where what is now Whitestone Boulevard from the west ended at what is now Bell Boulevard. There was no emergency dispatch system – just a siren on top of a store.
Former Cedar Park Firefighter Dale Davis, who eventually served as Chief, recalls how the original Firefighters heard the siren they would go to the City’s only Fire Station to find out what was happening.
“I memorized every street so I could go as quickly as possible,” Davis said, adding, “With the way the City has grown now, there’s no way.”
Former Cedar Park Assistant Chief and Firefighter and Marty Herrin, who brought his hazardous materials experience from the semiconductor industry to Cedar Park, explained why he volunteered during the 1980s.
“You do it because you can help,” Herrin said. “You see the need. You just feel really good about it. The first structure fire I ever sent to, I didn’t sleep for 36 hours. It’s just the adrenaline of fighting a fire, doing good for somebody, helping out.”
The Cedar Park Fire Department is now an internationally-accredited and ISO 1-rated career department with 88 sworn firefighters. Cedar Park’s five stations are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Chief James Mallinger says it all stands on the shoulders of the original firefighters.
“What staff did back in the volunteer times and today’s times, the energy they give, the service they give to the community, is what makes this fire department so great,” Mallinger says.
Assistant Chief Adam Story adds, “We’ve been named one of the safest cities to live in, and I agree with that, one hundred percent. We have, I think, not only one of the best fire departments in the country; we have a fantastic Police Department and just City services as a whole. That’s why I chose to move my family here and live here, is because I love the City. I love the way it’s run and protected.”
Assistant Chief Pat Flynn says he can only imagine the Cedar Park Fire Department’s next 50 years.
“Technology is going to play a huge part in it,” Flynn says. “The advances in nozzles and hose streams, the advances in the trucks are going to be amazing, I can’t even imagine where it’s going to take us.”
