Message from the Chief

Welcome to the 2022 Annual Fire Report. August 2022 marked my 14th year as your Fire Chief. I am proud to be the leader of an organization made up of 74 genuinely outstanding individuals that care for this community. Our personnel is the greatest asset to this department. As a team, we have witnessed a great deal this past year and will take on the challenges ahead as we enter 2023. So, to begin, I’d like to thank them all for being such a productive and responsive department to all the demands that we are faced with.

From a people standpoint, we saw 3 members of our department retire, and we hired 6 new Firefighters/Paramedics. As the retirements took place, we promoted one member to Battalion Chief, two members to Lieutenant, one to Driver Engineer, and appointed a new Deputy Chief. Although we lost quite a bit of experience to retirement we continued to enhance our advanced cardiac arrest initiative, which now shows a 33% cardiac survival rate compared to a 12% national average.

As we enter 2023, the community will see even more new developments in how we provide our service. We have hired an EMS Lieutenant to further advance our department in EMS patient treatment and care. We are also adding a new apparatus to our fleet, a 3,000-gallon water tender. This apparatus will allow us to expand our capabilities during water outages and drought situations, mitigating risks we discovered in the 2021 Winter Storm Uri.

I am very proud to lead this dedicated organization as we move forward. I am excited about the future of our organization. Southlake is a great community to live, work, and play. Your Southlake Fire Department is here to provide world-class service. Rest assured, we will respond quickly, efficiently, and effectively to serve your needs.

Respectfully,

MICHAEL STARR, FIRE CHIEF

63 SWORN LINE

8 SWORN STAFF

3 SUPPORT

74 TOTAL PERSONNEL

The Southlake Fire Department’s leadership team works to manage and coordinate the many complex administrative services of the department, including planning, organizing, and directing budget and fiscal policy and payroll, conducting analytical studies, developing, establishing, and implementing policies and procedures, recruiting, and continuous training.