With nearly 30 years of fire service for his community and corporation, Fire Chief's 2000 Volunteer Fire Chief of the Year believes you can't be a good leader without taking chances.

Fred Windisch's volunteer career was nearly blackballed before it had a chance to get started.

It was 1972, and Windisch, Fire Chief Magazine's 2000 Volunteer Fire Chief of the Year, was working as a mechanic for the Shell Oil in his hometown of Staunton, Ill. A friend and co-worker urged him to volunteer for the local department.

"I kept saying I had no time, I didn't want to do it," Windisch says. "I was going to be the mechanic of the century."

Windisch eventually agreed, but it seemed like the volunteer service might not be ready for him. He and three others had been blackballed twice, and a third time would have taken him out of the running.

Windisch, however, was accepted in the third round of voting. His first assignment was organizing citizens-band radio contact for a Fourth of July celebration. This marked the beginning of what Windisch calls his formative years. "I just wanted to do it," he says.

Career volunteer Windisch says his first chief was a workaholic who demanded perfection. "He made the system. If you didn't do what he wanted, you didn't survive."

Not only did Windisch survive, he also immediately felt the camaraderie this new task provided. He found a sense of community support, professional pride and demand for excellence.

"It was like wrapping a noose around your neck and dragging you into the fire service," recalls Windisch. "There was a sense of belonging."

After three years in Staunton, Windisch joined the Ponderosa Volunteer Fire Department, Houston, Texas, when Shell Oil transferred him in 1975. "When I moved here, I had the option of two houses," Windisch recalls. "If I would have taken that second house, I wouldn't be here. The stars wouldn't have lined up."

While playing in the front yard with his son, Scott, he saw a fire truck take off down the street - and he took off after it. "I took my Yamaha and drove to the fire station. When I got there, there was sweat just pouring down guys' faces." He was put to work immediately.

Ten years later, he rose to chief, a position he served in from 1985-95 and 1996-2000. The Ponderosa vfd has the distinction of being the only iso 4-rated department in unincorporated south Texas. It operates with 70 volunteers out of three stations.

During his more than 25 years with the department, Windisch started a planned apparatus replacement program and oversaw the construction of a new station/headquarters that also serves as a community center. He also established the first fire department first-responder agency in the Houston area and a partnership with American Laser Vision, which will provide reduced-price laser surgery to fire and ems personnel and donate a portion of the profits to the Harris County Firefighter Association Education Fund.

While he's proud of all that Ponderosa has accomplished during his years as chief, he's most proud of a performance-based incentive program. Windisch had been determined to create a retirement program and was presenting the idea in a citizen board of directors meeting. His son, Scott, currently the volunteer deputy chief with Ponderosa, persuaded him to rethink his strategy. "My son raised his hand and asked, `What can you do for me now?'"

The program is based on personal performance and length of service to the department. Firefighters receive incentives of $300 after three years and $100 after five years.

What Windisch sees as Ponderosa's commitment to excellence, customer service and the extra effort to do a perfect job created a good environment for an incentive program. "It is a built-in, pull the rope situation," Windisch says. "The money is there to give to you to perform. They are totally focused."

Community dialogue In his time with the Ponderosa vfd, Windisch guaranteed that the department not only served the community, but that they also answered to it. The area has a citizen board of directors, which sometimes pitted civilians against fire personnel. "We had to walk the plank," Windisch says. "That's why there was always good planning."

That preparation, along with the community commitment to facility and equipment improvements, eased the installation of exhaust removal systems in stations and implementation of Class A foam in 1990, allowing the department to develop a strong insurance portfolio. "The citizens knew it was the right thing to do," Windisch notes. "The board demanded it."

However, a pre-emptive strike may be called for, like when he had to justify the nearly $2 million for the new headquarters, Windisch says.

"We went to the community before they could ask why," Windisch recalls. "We provided them a vision of the future.... You cannot tell me a community will not support a fire department. They have to know what the problem is. Fire departments try to do everything, and they can't."

Of course, there's often some resistance to any proposal that uses tax dollars. But Windisch believes that effective leadership requires a commitment to excellence, even if it may not please everyone "though I've always tried.

"If a person can or will not commit to doing it right, they will not be seen as a leader," he adds.

Outside interests, similar goals A 30-year employee and recent retiree of the Shell Chemical Company, Windisch credits his attitude for doing it right from the oil company culture. Many in the community, as well as the volunteers, are Shell employees, earning the department the nickname "Shell ghetto." As a senior safety specialist working with health, safety and environmental issues, Windisch feels that the company developed his capabilities and set him on the right path. This path included mirroring his volunteer activities by serving as fire chief of the facility's fire brigade, managing its fire, ems, hazmat and rescue teams, and writing the answer booklet, "How to Help the Injured and Maybe Save a Life."

"All that knowledge spilled over into the fire service," Windisch says.

It would seem that in maintaining balance between Shell and Ponderosa, Windisch wouldn't have much time for other activities. However, in addition to those jobs, he keeps busy with the Texas Fire Chiefs Association, the State Firemen's and Fire Marshal's Association of Texas and the Texas Commission on Fire Protection. He also has authored many magazine articles and short stories and presented at major fire services conferences, specializing in volunteer leadership management,

On a national level, Windisch has been actively involved with the iafc's Volunteer Committee for the past 10 years. He has served as chairman and international director of the Volunteer Chief Officers Section and currently represents the vcos to the iafc board of directors. His involvement also includes developing and presenting the 21st Century Leadership in the Fire Service course and the Pierce Manufacturing/vcos Education Initiative, designed to improve and expand the educational programs available to volunteer and combination departments.

Windisch has extended this need for extended education to his own department. He has implemented a master-planning program in Ponderosa, and has completed three years of the National Fire Academy's vip courses and three years of the Executive Fire Officer Program, and is scheduled to return to the efo in 2001.

"The efo Program allows an individual to look at himself," Windisch notes. "You can't touch and feel leadership. If a chief has abilities and qualities, other things will be addressed: planning, leadership and execution."

Furthermore, he has maintained active roles with the National Volunteer Fire Council and the National Fire Protection Agency. Internationally, Windisch helped develop the Canadian Volunteer Fire Service Organization and is a member of the International Society of Fire Service Instructors.

The next chapter Even though he retired from Ponderosa in January, count on Windisch to continue pushing for education and community involvement in the fire service. He has assumed the position of ceo and fire marshal of Harris County (Texas) Fire and Emergency Services, the third-largest county in the United States.

"It was a fluke when I applied for that job," Windisch recalls. "I complained to the [county] commissioner about police and fire training plans. I thought, uh-oh, somebody is going to come out of here with blood."

But any doubts about his abilities were answered with an offer the commissioner couldn't refuse. "I said, `Give me a job for 364 days and if you're not pleased, I will quit on the 365th," he says. "Just don't ask for something you might just get."

As fire marshal, Windisch is in the process of reorganizing the structure and operations to add firefighter training and education, and preparing for the groundbreaking of a new Sheriff's and Fire Training Academy. "My goals in 1985 [when I became chief] were to have a nationally recognized vfd, and to be a nationally recognized chief," Windisch recalls. "We accomplished that. Now there are new goals: to have the best vfd in the country and to be a nationally recognized ceo. It's in my blood that I wanted to do more."

While Windisch has received many awards and accolades during his nearly 30 years with the fire service, they're not necessarily how he wants his career to be remembered.

"My legacy is that my son does a great job and that he is well thought of," Windisch says. "And I just wanted to let people know I was out there."