Frizzell named Dexter Firefighter of the Year

Kirk Frizzell was in his early 20s and unsure about what he wanted to do in life after his first set of plans fell through. But after responding to his first structure fire, he was hooked, and he knew that firefighting was his destination.

Originally from southwestern Kansas, Frizzell said he hadn’t always wanted to be a firefighter.

“I honestly didn’t think much about it,” Frizzell noted. “Initially, I wanted to get into veterinary medicine. But that is a difficult field to break into and things didn’t work out for me.”

Frizzell said he was working with a heating/air company in southwestern Kansas when the fire chief approached him and encouraged him to become a volunteer firefighter.

“At first, I wasn’t very interested, but he kept persisting and said he would grab an application for me,” Frizzell explained. “I figured that if he was going to go through the trouble to grab an application, I should at least go through the trouble of filling it out.”

Filling out that application was the first step in a journey that has lasted almost 26 years at this point.

“I started off as a volunteer firefighter in Kansas, and I worked as a volunteer for three years,” Frizzell explained. “Once I got into it, there was no looking back for me.”

Frizzell said his very first fire call was a house fire, and that completed his decision to stay in the occupation.

“After I saw everything that was involved with putting out the fire, I knew this was the life for me,” he remarked.

Early into his firefighting career, Frizzell said he responded to a beef-packing plant that had caught fire on Christmas Eve.

“That was very memorable,” Frizzell remarked. “The fire was in the tallow area, where all the beef fat was collected. That fire lasted for a week. It was probably the most major fire I ever responded to.”

Frizzell emphasized the importance of training across multiple areas when working as a firefighter/first responder. As a father of three children, he said he recognizes the need to be prepared for anything.

After moving to Dexter, Frizzell went to work for the Dexter Fire Department in 2015, and he has nothing but good things to say about it. Frizzell was named Dexter Fire Department's Firefighter of the Year for 2024.

“Our chief, Don Seymour, is a great guy and he has worked his tail off to get the best equipment and the best crew possible here,” Frizzell remarked. “I love working here. I wouldn’t do anything else.”

Like many other firefighters, Frizzell said he believes the job is more of a calling than anything else.

“You have to really be committed to do this job,” he said. “No one gets into it for the money, because the money just isn’t there.”

Frizzell has a ready response for anyone who asks him about pursuing a similar career path.

“I tell them this is a rewarding job,” Frizzell noted. “There is room for growth. There’s a lot of contact with the community. It can be really positive. It’s very demanding, but it’s also very rewarding.”