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To firefighters, a father

Thousands of area firefighters can thank Gilbert Rodriguez for their knowledge, skills and rank. On Thursday, they did.

By S.I. ROSENBAUM
Published August 18, 2006

	[Times photos: Skip O'Rourke]
	Mike Kenny, right, of Hillsborough County Fire Station 22 congratulates retired Battalion Chief Gilbert Rodriguez on Thursday during a celebration at what was Station 9. The station at 3225 Falkenburg Road is now named for Rodriguez.
	Gilbert Rodriguez dedicated 40 years to area fire departments as a battalion chief, trainer and mentor to many.

BRANDON — Gilbert Rodriguez sat in a metal folding chair in the truck bay of the fire station he loves, the station that will now bear his name.

He had a yellow flower in his shirt pocket and a yellow LIVESTRONG bracelet around his wrist. A slender oxygen tank sat nearby, clear tubes snaking up to his nostrils.

The line of well-wishers seemed endless.

“I’m here because of you,” said a woman, looking into his eyes. “You pushed me. I know that and I love you for that.”

“This is from Station 22, all three shifts,” said a man as he handed Rodriguez an envelope. “We love you, brother. We really do.”

As he answered them, Rodriguez’s voice faded into the din of at least 300 firefighters and their families crowded into the hot station.

His voice had always been soft. As a firefighting instructor, he never had to raise it to be heard.
Rodriguez, now 76, trained maybe 10,000 firefighters in his 40-year career with both the county and the Tampa fire departments, Hillsborough County Fire Chief William Nesmith guessed.

On Thursday, Rodriguez became the first living person to have a Hillsborough fire station named after him.

“Typically they do it posthumously,” said county Fire Rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley.
Rodriguez, a heart attack survivor now fighting cancer, knew that.

“I’m so glad I got to see this,” he said.

He became a Tampa firefighter as a young man in 1956, and served the city until he retired as a captain in 1980.
The next year, he started teaching firefighters part-time at Hillsborough Community College. He joined the county fire department as a training officer and later became a battalion chief.

He trained Capt. Alan Anderson of Station 3.

“If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be a captain,” Anderson said. “He showed me what he saw in me, and when I found it, I just went with it.”

He trained Anita Blackmon, a paramedic at Station 12. She remembers when someone told her that “women can’t drive fire engines.”

Chief Rodriguez heard. From then on, he made a point of having her drive the engine.
She was there when Rodriguez had a heart attack in 1996, she said.

“He got real pale and sat down,” she said. “I heard he had never sat down before then.”
Rodriguez retired that year.

Everyone seemed to have a story about him.

By 1:30 p.m., the truck bay was packed with firefighters from all over the county.

As the ceremony opened with the drone of bagpipes, Rodriguez stood, holding his wife’s hand in his.

Three county commissioners spoke. Rodriguez was praised by Nesmith and by Tampa Fire Chief Dennis Jones.

His sons — Gary, now a Hillsborough fire captain, and Ronnie — both choked up as they spoke about their dad.
Rodriguez was given a plaque, a replica of one that will hang in the fire station. He struggled to keep from crying as he read it.

Tampa Chief Jones presented Rodriguez with a replica of his old Tampa captain’s hat, which will hang in the station.

Afterward, as firefighters talked and reminisced in the heat, Rodriguez held court for TV cameras in an air-conditioned inner room.

He talked about how he trained his “kiddies” to save lives and look out for each other. About how proud he was when they surged through the ranks. About his memories of this station, where he served as battalion chief.
His wife, Winell, remembered how their house became a magnet for off-duty firefighters.
Rodriguez smiled as he spoke of the bagpipes from earlier that afternoon.

He was used to hearing bagpipes at more solemn gatherings. But all he could feel was joy.

[Last modified August 18, 2006, 11:21:55]