A behind-the-scenes hero at FFPD
By Erin Malcolm
From fire engines to ambulances and everything in between, the Falcon Fire Protection District utilizes about 30 pieces of apparatus and vehicles to keep the community safe. The responsibility to keep it all running is in the skilled hands of just one man: Rob Wilkerson, who went from being a firefighter to the department mechanic.
Wilkerson inherited his interest in both the fields of mechanics and firefighting from generations before him. His father constantly tinkered with whatever he could get his tools on. His grandfather fought fires in San Francisco and his great grandfather lost his life in action as the fire chief of Sparks Nevada Fire Department when he tragically fell through the roof of a burning building.
Wilkerson’s first memories with tools in-hand were of working on bicycles and race cars for fun when he was a young boy growing up in Colorado Springs (where he was born and has spent the majority of his life so far). As a teenager, learning more about the mechanics scene during a high school auto shop class is what set his sights toward pursuing the trade professionally.
Wilkerson’s first memories with tools in-hand were of working on bicycles and race cars for fun when he was a young boy growing up in Colorado Springs (where he was born and has spent the majority of his life so far). As a teenager, learning more about the mechanics scene during a high school auto shop class is what set his sights toward pursuing the trade professionally. “I just kind of ran with it from there — been working on vehicles ever since,” Wilkerson said.
Aside from that shop class in high school, Wilkerson’s plethora of knowledge has mostly been acquired on the job and through niche-specific training over the last 30 or so years he has spent working in the industry.
He began his career at a dealership where he worked on automobiles and, after that, transitioned to construction where he worked on semis and heavy machinery.
At the same time, he also felt the pull to follow in his family’s footsteps and work for a fire department. So, in 2004 (while still maintaining his full-time job as a heavy machinery mechanic), Wilkerson joined the FFPD as a volunteer firefighter. He was a volunteer for almost a decade, then transitioned to a reservist position and started “making a bit of money at it” (which meant just $25 per 12-hour shift). Eventually, opportunities arose for Wilkerson to switch his career path to firefighting full-time, but he declined at the risk of taking a pay cut. Still, he remained with the FFPD for fun and as a way to give back to the community.
Bud Kucera was the department’s mechanic at the time; and, as he neared retirement, Wilkerson lent him a hand in the shop. He worked with Kucera for a few months and stepped into his role as the part-time mechanic around 2014.
“I took over part-time, and then it just blew up from there. It’s just getting busier and busier,” he said. So busy, in fact, that he gave up firefighting as the demands for his mechanic duties quickly escalated, and he couldn’t manage both roles. For the last five years, Wilkerson has worked full-time as the department’s one and only mechanic. He misses aspects of being a first responder on exhilarating outings like wildland fires, but he doesn’t envision himself ever returning to it. “I am getting older now, and that’s for the young guys,” he said.
These days, the only time he finds himself in the field is to perform quick equipment fixes and get the crew back on the move. Otherwise, he can be found hunkered down in Fire Station No. 2 — the unmanned station on North Meridian Road that serves as a temporary maintenance and storage shop — where he maintains and repairs all sorts of apparatus and vehicles like the chief’s vehicles, ambulances, fire engines and more. His favorite piece of equipment to work on? “The big, red trucks that everyone loves seeing!” he said.
Another exciting part of his job is continued education so he can stay in the know about ever-evolving technology. “I’m always learning something new around here,” he said. “I try to do at least one or two trainings a year, so we can do more stuff in-house, rather than having to send it out.”
At the time of this article, he had just returned from a training about the new Holmatro extrication equipment that the department will be getting soon (like the jaws of life and car cutters).
Another new piece of equipment being added to the department’s collection is a ladder truck that has been on order since June 2023 (apparently, there is a three-year turnaround time on the order).
With all the new equipment coming in and the increasing call volume, there is a major need for more employees and more space in the maintenance sector of the FFPD.
Wilkerson’s formal title is “fleet manager,” which by his own definition means he takes care of all-things-vehicles-and-fire-apparatus. “Everything to do with them is what I do,” he said. “It can be overwhelming.”
He hopes that the department will be able to hire more personnel soon so he can portion out his workload. But that can’t happen until he moves out of the current makeshift shop and into the long awaited, brand-new FFPD maintenance facility that is in progress. Construction on the building appears to still be in the foundation phase and is set to be completed by December 2024. From there, Wilkerson hopes to have some helping hands in the new shop sometime in 2025. Meanwhile, he occasionally receives maintenance assistance from his brother, Tim Wilkerson, who is a full-time firefighter at the FFPD and a heavy construction equipment mechanic for a local construction company, where Rob Wilkerson used to work.
In addition to some exciting changes on the horizon in his career, Rob Wilkerson is also enjoying an exciting season of change in his personal life. He’s spending his free time settling into his new home in Falcon after finally leaving Colorado Springs nine months ago — and he is preparing for his upcoming wedding next summer!
The first responders who show up in the big, red truck to save the day are obvious heroes, of course. But working behind the scenes to keep the cutting-edge transportation and equipment ready for those heroes to use at a moment’s notice makes the mechanic just as much of one.
“Without me, they’d be walking!” Wilkerson said.
