Hispanic Heritage spotlight: Westfield Fire Chief Adrian Dillehay

Well, it is officially Hispanic Heritage Month. And here at Fox 26, we are spotlighting those in the Houston area who have made an impact on our community. Angie Rodriguez spoke with the fire chief of the Westfield Fire Department on the city's northeast side. Currently in East Aldine, it's in Northeast Harris County. Back in the 1900s, this was a farmland. It was a farmland area. Um, a lot of hardworking folks and it kind of still stands as that today. A lot of memories here. So, yes, very much tied into the neighborhood. And you have it. I mean, it means so much to you. You have it tatted on your arm, right? Can I see that real quick? Do you want to show me and tell me about kind of the significance behind why you even got this? When did you get it? Well, like I said, there's a lot of emotional ties here is a lot of family ties right here is the intersection of Bentley and Mooney. We're standing right here on the intersection of Bentley and Mooney. My grandmother's house was on Mooney. This is the fire of the fire department here that essentially, you know, not to get too too involved or say too much, but it saved my life. You know, I was I was growing up in the neighborhood where didn't have a lot of direction. I joined the Westwood Fire Department today. I am the fire chief of it as a hispanic latino and growing up in this community. How would you say that that has impact your life? I know we talked earlier about the no sabo stuff, but you know, that's so many people here in Houston. Yeah, it's huge. You know, growing up as a young man, whether you want to or not, you want to look at someone that that that's a reflection of you. And just to kind of go back on what we talked about earlier, that's another responsibility that I take on. I think it's very important that younger the youth in this neighborhood and around the nation see folks like me and like you in positions that we are in and to let them know that, hey, we come from similar environments and you can make that too. Not only that, you want to pay homage to those who came before you, who went through the pains, the struggles who fought for the rights to have me as the fire chief of a department. Now, I love this community. I often feel that communities like this get stereotyped in a negative way. Um, there's a lot of hard working people here, blue collar workers. Um, you know, one incident or a small group of or a small group of those who are not doing right. Do not speak for all of us who are trying to uplift the community. It takes a village. And so I just want to say that to the general public, like there's a lot of good work working hard people here. All right. That's a good report there from Angie Rodriguez.