PLANO, Texas — The City of Plano has a new fire chief. It is the first chief hired from inside the department, rather than hiring an external candidate. It is the man’s determination throughout his 30-year career that earned him the job for which nobody nearby was qualified.

There is a new fire chief in Plano, north of Dallas. The last five chiefs have all been hired from other fire departments. But this new chief has worked his way all the way up the ranks in Plano for the last three decades. Fire Chief Chris Biggerstaff has had four fire chiefs throughout his 29 years of service in the Plano Fire Department, all from other departments.

“That’s just the way we did business,” Biggerstaff explained. “We had people who were capable, but that wasn’t a priority in our department.”

The Cities of Richardson, Irving, Allen and Dallas have chiefs who got hired internally. Many other departments in North Texas often hire external candidates. The last fire chief in Plano came from Fort Worth— Chief Sam Greif. He wanted to make sure he had qualified people to take his place once he was started working as part of the city’s leadership.

“Plano had a history of going outside,” Greif said. “When I got hired, I made it a commitment, in fact it was my number one priority, that when my time came to an end as chief, that there would be a minimum of one, if not two candidates, that would be prepared in every way to step up and be a fire chief.”

“Before Greif, our internal candidates either didn’t have the professional development or the experience to apply for fire chief,” Biggerstaff said.

Biggerstaff had a bachelor’s degree when Greif came in. Greif told him to get his master’s and complete professional development. He completed a four-year program called “Executive Fire Officer,” a national program in Maryland with the National Fire Academy under FEMA. Before working in Plano, Biggerstaff started working for the Garland Fire Department when he was 22. He worked there as firefighter for a couple years and moved to Plano in 1992. He has worked in the Plano Fire Department ever since, and is 53 years old now.

“I started here when I was 24. I’ve held every rank in the department, driver engineer, lieutenant, captain, battalion chief, deputy chief, assistant chief and now fire chief,” Biggerstaff said.

Grief moved to the role of Deputy City Manager for the City of Plano and is still Biggerstaff’s boss.

“I never intended to be a fire chief. But Chief Greif had a lot of influence on me and helped me to see myself in that role.”

His lesson for Texans is do not sell yourself short. 

“That wasn’t ever something I saw myself doing,” he said. “My dad was a captain in the Dallas Fire Department. That’s how I pictured myself ending my career there as well, as a captain.”

He realized he could have a larger influence on the department than he was giving himself credit for by not dreaming big. He has now been on the job for one month.

“An outside hire would have to come in and earn the respect of the department. Some of these people I worked with for 29 years,” Biggerstaff said.

His goals are to maintain the culture the department has had all these years and to build on that.

“Hopefully people in our department will see themselves in this role and start the preparations now to get that professional development and experience.”

Biggerstaff believes he was underestimating his career possibilities and encourages Texans to start work on their big, seemingly unattainable goal immediately, whatever it may be. His advice to anyone with a place to climb: start prepping now.

“You can’t wait til it’s too late,” he said.