By Elizabeth Jackman
During his 33-year career with the Glendale Fire Department, Assistant Chief Dave Villalovos has done it all, from fighting fires to delivering babies.
“I have delivered 13 babies,” Villalovos said. “One of the fathers wanted to name the baby after me, but I said, ‘please don’t do that,’ because it was a little girl. He invited me back after my shift for a beer.”
That was early in his career, back in the late 1970s, he said.
Villalovos, 57, who is the second-longest serving member of the department behind Engineer Gary Flannery, who has close to 35 years, celebrated his retirement June 20.
“I decided to retire because I am never going to have more years than him,” Villalovos said with a chuckle.
Born and raised in Compton, Calif., a suburb in south Los Angeles, Villalovos joined the Air Force a year after completing high school. He worked as a jet mechanic.
He was stationed at Luke Air Force Base when he left the service in May 1973 and went to work as a cable splicer for Mountain Bell.
His career with the fire department almost never happened because at 5-feet 5-inches tall, he was told he was too short.
A chance acquaintance with a man he played handball with for two years at a park at 59th Avenue and Bethany Home Road, which they used to call “chicken park” because there was a chicken ranch across the street, changed the course of his life.
The man turned out to be then Fire Chief Gray Crabtree, but Villalovos said he had no idea he was the fire chief.
“He told me Glendale did not have a height requirement, only that your weight be proportionate to your height,” Villalovos said. “I tested and got hired along with seven other recruits in September 1974. I was 24.”
After two weeks of on the job training, he was put on Engine 153 at 59th Avenue and Thunderbird Road.
“At that time we had about 30 members and only three fire stations,” Villalovos said.
He spent three years as a firefighter and then became an engineer, was promoted to captain in 1986 at Station No. 152 at 69th Avenue and Bethany Home Road and to battalion chief in 1997. In 2005, he was appointed deputy chief and assistant chief in 2007.
“After one year as a firefighter I had the opportunity to go to paramedic school,” he said.
Along the way, he was also part of the first bicycle paramedic team developed for special events such as the Fourth of July, worked as a Fire Pal in the schools teaching fire safety and was an original member of the department’s HAZMAT (hazardous materials) team.
“I stayed pretty busy,” Villalovos said. “It’s been a good career. I’ve seen the best and the worst, a lot of tragic calls; drownings, traffic fatalities, and unexpected trauma such as shootings, all very sad. We do what we can to provide comfort. At least I was there to try and help.”
Villalovos remembered one very special thank you that came 22 years after he saved the life of a woman who had been choking to death on a piece of meat while at her home eating dinner.
“In 2001, a woman named Vicki from our IT department came to work on my computer,” Villalovos said. “During that time she showed me a business card of Chief Crabtree’s and on the back was written my name and Gary Flannery. She told me we were the two paramedics who came and saved her mom’s life. She said when she started working at the city she hoped she would run into them one day so she could say thank you. She carried that card around for more than 20 years. I asked her how her mom was, she said she just celebrated her 80th birthday and she brought her down to meet me and Gary.”
The best part about being a firefighter is the chance to serve the public and help people, he said.
“I feel that is what firefighters are all about, helping people,” Villalovos said.
His plans for retirement include playing more golf and handball which he still loves playing and traveling with his wife Cindy, a fleet manager for the Glendale police department who he married in 2007.
Villalovos first wife, Virginia, passed away in 2003. The couple raised three children who Villalovos calls the “M and Ms,” Melissa, Mike and Melinda. He has three grandchildren.
Reach the reporter at
ejackman@star-times.com, or 623-847-4615.
