Thirty years of service and counting

Born and raised in Breckenridge, Fire Department Chief Calvin Chaney has served as a firefighter for 30 years serving the city and community. Since starting as a volunteer firefighter Chaney has always gone above and beyond not for a paycheck, but to make a difference.

The chief said after graduating from Breckenridge High School, he started out in the plumbing field while living in White Settlement in 1988, where he worked for the city water department.

“That is where I got introduced into firefighting through they had a volunteer fire department. As a member of the city, they said ‘Yeah, would you like to join us,’ and I said ‘Yes.’ So that’s how I got involved in the fire service,” he said. “As a volunteer I started there and I moved back to Breckenridge and then I went to work for the water department here and then moved into the fire department as a full-time firefighter.”

When Chaney came back to Breckenridge in 1991, he said that the Texas Commission on Fire Protection, which develops and enforces the professional standards for individuals and the fire service, began implementing certifications for firefighters.

“When I started here in ‘91 that’s when the (...) state of Texas, Texas Fire Commission, started that you had to be a certified fireman so I was the first person to actually go through an academy and the first person to take a state test for the whole state of Texas,” he said. “Before then, you went to work as just a regular layperson and you worked for one year and then you were certified. They started when I started that when they said ‘Hey, no, you have to be certified before you start.’ Like I said, that was an all new program. (...) My assistant chief at the time, George Rodgers, he’s the one that set up the school and went through the school and like I said (I was the) first one to ever take the test and have an academy in the whole state of Texas.”

Chaney has moved from a volunteer position to being chief of the department in Breckenridge. He said the fire chief role encompasses many jobs within its title.

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