Fire Chief Signs Off

RIO RANCHO — It was his last day Aug. 28, but Rio Rancho Fire Chief James DeFillippo didn’t let that stop his well-known jovial smile at his retirement party off of Stephanie Road.

That did not mean that DeFillippo wasn’t feeling melancholic about retiring after 26 years as a firefighter and four years as chief at RRFR.

“It’s weird putting on the uniform for the last time, and it’s been 26 years. It’s been such a memorable career,” he said. “It’s hard to just look back as I’m getting dressed, saying, ‘Oh, that’s the last time I’m gonna put my badge on,’” he said.

DeFillippo started as a 20-year-old and worked his way up through the department. In that time, he developed a family both by blood and by colleagues.

“I got hired as a kid. I became a young adult. I got married. I had my family. We all kind of bonded together with that, too, because all those life events were happening at the same time and moving up in your career as well. It is like family because they were all here for all of it,” he said.

He also recalled a few incidents where his colleagues were his family’s responders.

In those 26 years, DeFillippo has seen the department grow and change.

“We started with three stations. There were eight of us on duty. The city was probably 35,000 people at the time. It was a small community, and one of the stations you’re at by yourself,” he reminisced. “You just get out of the academy; you’re ready to go. And then you’d go work out at a station, and we’re (Department of Public Safety). At that time, the police officers would come and help us respond.”

He said everyone had to do a “bit of everything” back then. As the department grew, so did the crews, who acquired more skills at the same time.

“We really started to expand our services, but also then we had the ability to focus a little bit more on fire and rescue, and I became a paramedic, and I got to do other aspects of the job that maybe I wouldn’t have gotten to do if I worked somewhere else other than Rio Rancho,” he said.

He remembered some of the bonding moments with his team.

“I think the memories I’ll cherish forever are those late nights around the dinner table drinking coffee, just making it through the shift because it was just busy,” he said. “That’s one thing that you can’t recreate anywhere else because of the environment that we’re in. It does bond us a little bit closer together because we rely on each other.”

The crew celebrated the outgoing chief with a slide show of photos from DeFillippo’s time there, a meal and, of course, a commemorative cake.

But there is a lot to look forward to, according to DeFillippo.

“I’m gonna take a little bit of a break. It’s been a fun ride. Being fire chief has been immensely challenging. But I’ve got my wife, my two young boys, 15 and 13, and they’re playing sports. My oldest goes to Cibola High School, plays soccer for them. So I’m looking forward to just spending some quality time with them and working on a lot of the projects that I promised my wife that I’d do over the last 26 years that I haven’t done, like remodel the bathroom,” he said.

Though his family has been understanding, part of the job has been missing out on important family events, according to DeFillippo. “You miss a lot of birthdays, anniversaries and holidays, and I look forward to getting to make up for that time.”

He feels he is leaving the department in good hands with his successor James Wenzel, who has been training for the transition since February.

“I don’t feel like he’s got big shoes to fill. I appreciate my time as fire chief, and I think James Wenzel is the right man for the job; he’s highly qualified,” he said.

He added that Wenzel exceeded his expectations over the past several months and feels he is ready to take his place as chief.

Wenzel stated that it is because of DeFilippo’s guidance that he has been able to excel.

“I’m excited for him to enjoy that part of the next chapter of his life. Today, I think we’re all looking back at everything he accomplished,” he said.

Wenzel recalled the training he’s been through the past several months, saying it has been invaluable.

“I feel like I’m as ready and prepared as I possibly can be. Hit the ground running, which is exciting, and I think the idea behind it and the city’s vision was, ‘Let’s not slow down. Let’s just have somebody who can come in and take off’ where he left it,” he said.

There are a couple of projects around the corner that Wenzel is excited for as well, including a new fire station set to break ground in 2026 and a new training center for the crews.

Wenzel had high praise for DeFillippo as he came closer to the end of his day as chief.

“He empowered me. He really did. He came in and said, ‘Listen. You can learn certain things by shadowing me. You can learn certain things by watching what I do, but a lot of what I do, and a lot of what a fire chief does, you gotta experience. You gotta jump in with both feet,’ so I cannon-balled,” Wenzel said.

Mayor Gregg Hull, who attended the celebration, thanked the chief for his years.

“We’ve worked side by side to really make some transformative changes to the Rio Rancho Fire Rescue organization. Been here for all of that and seeing the transformation over the last 10 years and now has helped tee up the eighth firehouse that’s going to be coming very soon and helped tee up a lot of really fundamental changes, helped us really build a strong institutional transitional team that we know now that we can draw from the existing leadership to to pull into some into the leadership spots and created this queue for other individuals that are in training to come into those leadership spots and really make sure that there’s a legacy of leadership coming through the pipeline,” he said.

He added that the retiring chief left a good mark on the city.

“Chief grew up in this department. He’s been, from day one, a Rio Rancho son,” he said.

DeFillippo left the up-and-comers in the department with some advice:

“The best advice that I have, it was told to me a long time ago, but the best thing an old firefighter can do is teach a young firefighter how to become an old firefighter.”