Fire Chief of the Year: Chief Clay Huckaby

 The Texas Fire Chiefs Association is recognizing Chief Clay Huckaby of the Buda Fire Department / Hay County ESD #8 as the Texas Fire Chief of the Year for 2009. Chief Huckaby was selected because of his service and leadership in transforming a small rural volunteer fire department into a modern combination department.

 Since being named as the first paid Buda Fire Chief in 2004, Chief Huckaby has doubled the number of volunteer firefighters and has expanded the department to 27 employees. He implemented a fire code in ESD #8 and hired a full-time fire marshal to enforce the ESD and City of Buda fire codes. He improved the training facilities to include a four-story training tower and graduated the first recruit class.  

Chief Huckaby educated voters about the need for ESD funding and received an 89% voter approval of sales taxes in the ESD. The funding has allowed the department to purchase needed apparatus and equipment. Under his leadership, Buda has also built two additional fire stations and Hays County has implemented a new dispatching system. Chief Huckaby has written and received federal grants of $1.4 million to hire more firefighters and has improved the community’s ISO rating from a 7/8 to 3.  

The nomination for Chief Huckaby was initiated by the Hays County ESD #8 Board of Commissioners and the president of the Buda Volunteer Fire Department. Chief Huckaby was 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.  

Sponsored by Metro Fire Apparatus, the Texas Fire Chief of the Year Award is presented by the Texas Fire Chiefs each year to a Texas fire chief who completed significant accomplishments through their leadership and vision.