Lacy Lakeview Fire Chief Patty Byars-Faulkner retires after long career in fire service

She retired last week as fire chief in Lacy Lakeview, leaving behind fewer firsts left for female firefighters to get to, including becoming the first woman to work as a paid fire chief in McLennan County.

Colleagues and friends going back to when Byars-Faulkner started with the Dallas Fire Department in 1989 gathered Friday to honor her in a retirement ceremony in Lacy Lakeview. She spent 13 years there, including 11 as chief to cap a career she never really planned on.

“It was kind of a fluke,” she said.

Before she was a firefighter, Byars-Faulkner was managing an auto parts store down the street from a fire station. She met and befriended some of the firefighters when they would come to her store to get parts for their fire engines.

One night, Byars-Faulkner got invited to dinner and said it was awkward at first, as no one talked. She said she thought it was a little odd, until it dawned on her: The firefighters had a family-like bond and at the time, she was an outsider.

She said the camaraderie of the fire department, along with the physicality of the job and the ability to help people in need, is what made her fall in love with firefighting.

“I’ve never been a girly-girl,” Byars-Faulkner said. “So the outside, physical part of it is attractive to me, because you get to use more than your mind, you get to use your body as well. I love the camaraderie that they had, the feeling of family that they always gave off. You could just see the love that they had for each other, the team dynamic — which you have to have with what we do — because you have to trust each other. And if you don’t trust each other, then you’re not effective in the job that you do.”

Byars-Faulkner took the test and joined the department of 1,600 at a time when only 11 women were on the force. Historically, firefighting has always been a male-dominated profession. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, only 9% of all firefighters in the U.S. are women, and only 5% of paid firefighters are women.

Despite the numbers, Byars-Faulkner never felt out of place, as she was able to grow close with her colleagues in Dallas.

“In Dallas, I wasn’t the first, but I was in that first wave that came across,” Byars-Faulkner said. “I was the first high-angle rescue team female that they had in Dallas, I was assigned to that station. There aren’t that many firsts anymore.”

Sherrie Wilson was the first female firefighter in Dallas, and worked with Byars-Faulkner during her years with the department. Wilson called Byars-Faulkner “bada—,” and said she is an exemplary firefighter and was a good fit for leadership in Lacy Lakeview despite the switch from a big city to a small town.

“She’s awesome,” Wilson said. “She’s good. She was a team player, clear roles, clear responsibility, clear communication, very respectful for people. She was just the real deal. We’re losing a great.”

Byars-Faulkner stayed with the Dallas department for six years until she took a break to raise her son J.C. After he got old enough, she began teaching emergency medical technician and paramedic classes at a hospital in Dallas in 2005, reentered firefighting as a part-time firefighter with the Hillsboro Fire Department in 2006, and also became a fire instructor at Tarrant County Community College in 2008.

Byars-Faulkner began a short stint with the Hill County Sheriff’s Office as an arson investigator in 2009 before leaving in 2010, when she heard about an opening for a fire marshal position in Lacy Lakeview. She was hired in April 2010.

Byars-Faulkner became Lacy Lakeview’s acting fire chief in August 2012 when former Chief Dennis Stapleton left the department, and was officially appointed as chief in July 2013. Byars-Faulkner said she cannot completely explain why Lacy Lakeview was the right fit for her, but it was just where God wanted her to go at that time.

She said she has fallen in love with her team and the community of Lacy Lakeview.

“The community seemed pretty tight-knit,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what the fire department needs, the community has always been supportive of the fire department. They’re just good people.”

Lacy Lakeview City Manager Calvin Hodde said the city will miss Byars-Faulkner’s passion for the job and her leadership that constantly steered the department in the right direction.

Byars-Faulkner said the part she will miss most about her job, apart from the job itself, is her team.

“My guys, my firefighters, they have been what keeps me motivated,” Byars-Faulkner said. “They’re the ones that keep me learning new things. They certainly keep me on my toes, but I love the energy and the enthusiasm they bring to the job and their open-mindedness and their willingness to go out and discover new ways of doing things or new training or new tools and bringing those back and putting those in action. My guys are amazing. They always have been.”

Lacy Lakeview firefighter Christy Gomez said Byars-Faulkner is a great role model and held the department together. Gomez said Byars-Faulkner pushed the firefighters in the department to the best of their abilities and encouraged them to accomplish anything.

“She has became more than a fire chief,” Gomez said. “She really held the fire department together like family. She would cook for us and we would have those family days where phones were put away. It was family time. She could read us, she was like a mother. If you were off, she knew it. She’s remarkable.”

Stephen Negratti, a volunteer firefighter with the department, said of all things, he will miss Byars-Faulkner’s cooking the most. He said she was a successful chief because she had worked just about every position possible in the fire service, working her way to chief from the bottom rung of the ladder.

Lacy Lakeview firefighter Josh Schrock said the Lacy Lakeview fire department won’t be the same without Byars-Faulkner’s leadership.

“I think personally one of the things that made her so great was just that she made the fire station feel like home,” Schrock said. “She made all of us feel like family and we were all wanted.”

When asked why she thought now was the time for retirement, Byars-Faulkner replied “Why not?” She said she wanted to honor her husband of 31 years, Jim, who is himself a retired firefighter. She said they plan to travel and spend more time together in retirement.

Gardening and quilting are on the horizon for Byars-Faulkner, though she will not be completely leaving firefighting behind. A long-time teacher, she said she plans to continue teaching CPR and fire classes at the Texas A&M fire school, where she has taught classes since 2006.

Byars-Faulkner officially retired July 21, but she already passed the reins over to Cody Newman on June 13. Newman is coming to Lacy Lakeview after 20 years as a firefighter split between College Station, where he was a first responder to the 1999 A&M bonfire collapse, and the Harker Heights fire departments. Newman also has ties to McLennan County, as he got his start as a junior volunteer firefighter in China Spring at age 16, and graduated from McLennan Community College’s fire school.

“I wish her the best in her future endeavors and retirement,” Newman said of his predecessor. “She’s earned it and deserved it.”

Similarly, Byars-Faulkner said she wishes Newman the best in his takeover of the department she led for almost 11 years.

“I hope he continues to appreciate the team that he has and to continue their growth,” Byars-Faulkner said. “I left him a note that basically told him as long as he can treat them with respect and he appreciates them, they’ll do anything for him.”

Byars-Faulkner said firefighting is the best job in the world, as it allowed her to grow close with her team and help people. She said no two days as a firefighter were ever the same.

“I know everybody that has a job that they love says the same thing, but being a firefighter is the most the absolute best job in the whole world,” Byars-Faulkner said. “It’s funny that all firefighters even after they retire, they see a firetruck go by, we all stop and we all look. It doesn’t matter if you’re retired, if you’re paid or not. You sit there and you watch the fire engine wondering what they’re going to.

“That excitement, that willingness to give outside yourself, that camaraderie you have with your team is one I’m going to miss the most. Because you don’t get that anywhere else.”