W’boro Fire Chief Steve Pinkston retires after 40-year career of service to others

An impressive 40-year career will come to an end for Whitesboro Fire Chief Steve Pinkston as the community gathers for a celebratory reception at the Fire Station this Saturday at 2 p.m. For Pinkston, it’ll be a bittersweet event.

Anyone who’s lived in Whitesboro long enough will associate the Pinkston name with the town. After all, the family first settled here nearly 75 years ago and continues to raise generations here today.

Pinkston himself was born in Sherman and raised in Whitesboro. After graduating from Whitesboro High School in 1976, he thought he might explore a career in air traffic control. However, being a federal job, that was a hard career to get into.

In 1984, Pinkston started his own concrete business, which he would continue for 16 years. But the following year, while making a stop at the local post office to mail a letter, he struck up a conversation with postal worker Ronnie Jack, who also worked with the Whitesboro Fire Department (WFD).

Jack asked if Pinkston had ever considered volunteering with the department (which Pinkston hadn’t) and Jack asked if he could put Pinkston’s name in for upcoming elections. With nearly zero turnover at the department, Pinkston figured his chances were slim and agreed.

Imagine his surprise when Jack called him just three weeks later to tell him he was on the department! Pinkston began volunteering in March 1985 and started educating himself. He obtained certifications and took officer development and reserve classes. Eventually, he even began teaching summer classes for TECS (Training, Equipment, Consultant Specialist) Fire and Safety, something he did for a decade.

It didn’t take him long to realize that people are truly “chosen” for this job. 

“We see things that other people only see in war,” Pinkston said. “Not everyone can handle it. It’s not for everyone. You really have to be chosen.”

Pinkston was among the chosen, as he volunteered with the WFD for 25 years. Throughout his career, he also worked as a firefighter at the Grayson County Airport for 10 years and for L3 Communications for six years. He ran an ambulance for Rural Metro and worked in wild land firefighting, controlling burns on federal land. He’d been gone from Whitesboro for 10 years and was eight months into serving as the Southmayd Fire Chief when the City of Whitesboro called in 2019 to offer him the role of Fire Chief of the WFD.

After discussing it with his wife Terri, the first call he made was to colleague Jeff Patterson, with whom he had previously worked at the WFD and was currently working as a firefighter in Addison.

“I called him to ask if he’d come to Whitesboro to help me,” Pinkston said. “He didn’t hesitate. He came on part-time, I named him Assistant Chief and he’s been here with me ever since.”

While Pinkston has loved his career in Whitesboro, working in his hometown has been tough. 

“When you show up to a medical emergency for someone you know, it has its goods and bads,” Pinkston said. “On the one hand, you bring calm to chaos. When people in need see you and know you, they can feel relieved that you’re there to help.

“But it’s also difficult to arrive on a scene and realize someone you care about is having a medical emergency. I’ve transported my own mom and dad both to the ER,” Pinkston said. “That was really tough.”

In looking back over his career with Whitesboro, Pinkston has seen a lot of changes in the industry. From advances (and expense) in equipment to the structure of today’s command system, the thing that stands out to him most is seeing how the WFD has grown from what it used to be.

“I never thought I’d see paid firefighters in my days of working here,” he said. “We’ve had good support from the city and our citizens. It’s been fun to watch the department and the city grow.”

Pinkston has enjoyed seeing the community connection develop between citizens and the department. The WFD offers Fire Station tours to the public and leads fire prevention classes. The mutual respect doesn’t end at the city limits.

“Our department is sort of looked at as the big brothers of Western Grayson County,” he said. “Other departments look at what we do, how we train. They see that we have the equipment and the manpower to come help when needed. I’m proud of that.”

In looking toward his retirement, Pinkston remembers the 10 years he was gone from Whitesboro in the 2010s. The thing he missed most then, and what he will miss most now, will be the men and women of the department that he’s come to see as his family.

“It really is a brotherhood,” he said. 

Even though Pinkston is retiring, he still plans to maintain his certifications so that he can fill in part-time as needed. In addition to spending more time with his wife, kids and grandkids and traveling to his family’s cabin in New Mexico for longer get-aways, Pinkston plans to devote more time to his latest hobby – restoring a 1956 Ford F600 fire truck that, according to its original title, was purchased new and used to operate in Whitesboro. 

The truck was sold years ago and eventually donated back to the fire department by Les Roberts, a City of Whitesboro retiree, who purchased it for $312 in 1999.

“I ran fires on it in the mid-1980s,” Pinkston said. “It’s a piece of history for Whitesboro and for the department. I want to keep the history of this fire department alive, try to keep that going. I want to restore it and make it a parade truck.”

Pinkston’s last day as the WFD Fire Chief will be May 1, and he’ll leave behind big shoes to fill. But it seems Director of Public Safety Jeff Patterson will absorb Pinkston’s duties.

“Years ago, I was given great advice: surround yourself with good people and success will come,” Pinkston said. “That’s what I’ve done here. I’m leaving the department in great hands.”

This has proven to be true, especially over the past few years.

“I was nervous when we took over the ambulance service a few years ago, but it’s been very successful,” Pinkston said. “Between Jeff (Patterson) and Stephen Wilcox, it took having the right people in the right place.”

Throughout his career, Pinkston has experienced highs (cutting the umbilical cord on a freshly-delivered baby at the Whitesboro Allsup’s) and lows (realizing the heartbreaking impact from a firefighter’s perspective while watching the televised events unfold during 9/11). But if he had it all to do over again, he wouldn’t change anything.

“I’ve really enjoyed doing this,” Pinkston said of his role as Whitesboro Fire Chief. “It’s been trying at times, but it’s been one of the best jobs I’ve ever had.”