(Seguin) — A dedicated firefighter, who died in the line of service, will forever be remembered in the city of Seguin. The city has approved the naming of Fire Station No. 3 after former firefighter/paramedic Roger W. Dean.
Seguin Fire Chief Dale Skinner, in an emotional presentation recently to the city council, said it was his honor to bring this request to the city.
“This is probably the coolest day of being a fire chief is getting to name a first station and requesting the name change. As you’ve been around fire stations, you’ve seen that the Seguin Fire Department has a history of naming fire stations after some of our past members. Central Fire Station was named after our former Fire Chief Roger G. MyCue that served as fire chief for 35 years. He was the last volunteer fire chief in the organization. Station 2 is named after Charles Gregg who was a longtime member of our organization and then he also served as the chief of the volunteers. Both of those gentlemen go down as legends of the Seguin Fire Department.
Chief Skinner went on to share Dean’s story. He says that Roger Dean was an exceptional person and a dedicated member of the fire department.
“So, this is the opportunity for me to honor a member that we lost last year 4/23/21. Roger Dean succumbed to the complications of COVID, and he is the first and hopefully the last line of duty death that the Seguin Fire Department has ever encountered,” said Skinner. “Roger dedicated his life to this service. He was an EMT before coming to the Seguin Fire Department. He did a short stint in the Buda Fire Department and then he came here on July 30, 2018, and Roger fit in right away. It did not take long for him to earn the respect of his peers as a top-notch firefighter and certainly as a paramedic. Roger quickly made his way to FTO, field training officer, in our EMS program and that was his passion, teaching firefighters about EMS and making sure that they had what it takes to be Seguin Firefighters.”
Chief Skinner really began to choke up when he spoke about Dean’s passion for his work. He says that Roger Dean understood the importance of serving others, and it’s how he lived his life.
“His love for the job was very evident. It’s not what he did, it’s who he was. Roger took it upon himself one night to secretly paint over the doorway at Central Fire Station, ‘non sibi sed omnibus,’ which means not for self but for others. That was a credo that Roger lived by, and we have adopted it as our own credo. I have it on my chest. I carry it on my bracelet to remind me that what we do is for others and not for ourselves. So, the best way that we can honor Roger here is to name Fire Station #3 as the Roger Dean III Fire Station so with that, I humbly request that you grant that,” said Skinner.
The city council unanimously agreed with Chief Skinner’s request, and the station will now carry Dean’s name. The firehouse is located at the corner of East Kingsbury Street and State Highway 123 Bypass.