Buda Fire Chief Clay Huckaby, left, accompanied by Buda Mayor Bobby Lane, commemorated the dedication of a new fire truck last winter. The department has grown from a small volunteer force to a large professional force, and this year Huckaby was named fire chief of the year by the Texas Fire Chiefs Association. (photo by Jen Biundo)
by Jen Biundo
It could have all ended on a quiet Sunday night in 1994, when downtown Buda burst into flames.
In the late hours of July 10, a fire erupted in a glassblowing shop on the corner of Main and Ash streets and quickly spread through the adjoining buildings. As the flames raced through the connected wooden and tar-papered attics of the century-old structures and threatened an entire block of the old downtown, Buda’s small volunteer fire force leapt out of their beds and into action.
Among the men fighting the inferno was the newest volunteer on the force, Clay Huckaby. His day job? High School.
At the age of 16, Huckaby followed in his father’s footsteps to sign up on Buda’s volunteer force. He wanted to help in his small, close-knit community – and what kid doesn’t dream of being a firefighter?
On that night in 1994, as firefighters from neighboring towns raced to Buda to help combat the blaze, the teenage volunteer was assigned the relatively safe job of checking nearby buildings to make sure they were fire-free. He and his partner didn’t realize that flames were quietly simmering in the attic space.
“Where Nonna Gina’s is right now, we were going in there to check it out,” Huckaby said. “The gentleman with me knocked a hole in the glass. It caused a backdraft, and the whole building exploded. I ended up on the center yellow line in the middle of Main Street.”
Huckaby’s first firefighting experience ended in an ambulance ride to the hospital, but that didn’t deter him from what would become his life’s profession.
“I said that day that I wasn’t going to quit, and I didn’t,” Huckaby said.
A decade and a half later, the Texas Fire Chiefs Association is recognizing Huckaby as the Texas Fire Chief of the Year for 2009 for his leadership in transforming the small, rural volunteer force into a modern, professional department.
Huckaby was appointed volunteer chief in 2004, and in 2005 he was hired as the first paid chief of the department.
“What we’ve done here in the past seven years is basically try to advance the fire department to a more professional department that reflects the community we’re in,” Huckaby said.
The board of directors of the Emergency Services District #8, which oversees the Buda Fire Department, nominated Huckaby for the award.
“We felt that all the accomplishments that we’ve had over the last couple years and especially this last year were overwhelming and he would be a hands down winner,” said ESD commissioner Joe Segovia. “I call him Buda’s local hero because he grew up in Buda, and now he is both firefighting and saving the taxpayers tons of money.”
Since he was named chief, Huckaby helped double the number of volunteers, from less than 15 to 30, and expanded the department to include 27 employees, financed largely through $1.4 million in federal grants.
Last year, voters outside city limits overwhelmingly approved a half-cent sales tax to increase funding for the department, allowing the construction of two new stations and the purchase of new fire trucks.
Firefighters jokingly complain that they never get to fight a good fire nowadays, since they arrive on scene before the building is engulfed in flames. But the increased protection meant Buda’s Insurance Services Office rating will drop from a 7 to a 3, effective this June, with 10 being the worst possible rating and 1 being the best. That translates into a 15 percent decrease in homeowners’ insurance rates and a 33 percent drop in commercial rates.
Huckaby implemented a fire code in ESD #8 and hired a full-time fire marshal to enforce the ESD and City of Buda fire codes, and helped the county implement a new dispatching system.
With the help of the annual Firefest fundraiser, the department built a four-story training tower and recently graduated its first recruit class.
This year, Huckaby was also recognized as Citizen of the Year by the Buda Area Chamber of Commerce. He is a graduate of Concordia University in Austin and was in the first graduating class of the Texas Fire Chiefs Academy at St. Edward’s University in Austin in 2008.
The Texas Fire Chiefs Association awards ceremony will be held in Galveston on February 24. Hays County ESD #8 and the Buda Fire Department will be holding a local dinner at Ruby Ranch Lodge on February 26 at 7 p.m.
