Q&A: Washington Township Avon Fire Department Chief Danny Brock
Writer / Jamie Hergott
Photography Provided
What is a typical day like for you as the fire chief?
We work Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. However, as runs and business dictate, we will stay later and be around on nights and weekends. Typically we arrive and the staff catches up on the direction of the day for operations and administration, and we discuss any upcoming meetings and topics to be covered, before beginning our daily duties with regards to time keeping, training plans, operational needs and ongoing incident follow-up. 
As the fire chief, I will check in with the trustee and the township staff for any particular needs. Afterwards, I will move onto emails and responding to various citizen calls (mostly positive), vendor inquiries, and upcoming meetings or events that may be pending. In between time, if our crews are on-site at headquarters, it is my feeling and the feeling of our staff that we should be present. We make every attempt to ensure they know that they are the focus and priority. Often it’s a simple handshake and asking about the day and/or family.
Other times, we field concerns or questions to keep everyone updated as to the latest happenings or upcoming township meetings. Daily interaction is key, and we also schedule time for the staff to visit the firehouses in order to stay grounded with living conditions, while continuing the focus that “the people who serve the people” matter. Shift personnel serve the community daily, and it is our job to serve them so they may do their job and provide for their families at home. We have to know each other on a personal level in order to trust each other in our chosen line of service.
What is your favorite part about your job?
My favorite part of the job is coming in and figuring out the puzzle. Each person is complex, and groups of people even more so. Though many of my days are taken up by meetings, phone calls, emails and crunching numbers. It’s the people part that is the most important. Keeping everyone bought in on the mission and enjoying the work environment is paramount to job satisfaction. We want people to be well-compensated with great benefits, but ultimately we want everyone to stay because we provide a team and environment they want to be a part of, for the duration of a career where they spend one-third of their lives.
People do not care how much a leader knows until they know how much you care. My favorite part is truly the people who make up Washington Township Avon Fire Department (WTAFD).
What is most challenging about your job?
The most challenging part of the job is the overall responsibility of the title, and the personalization of “who is the fire chief,” versus “what is the fire chief.” It’s a position that owns the overall responsibility of the successes and the failures of the department on all fronts. The fire chief is the ultimate chaos manager and is only as successful as the vision set forth for those filling the managerial roles within each division of our organization. In public service, people always matter at every level of the organization.
The challenge comes with putting the personality to the position. Many entities take on the personality of the leadership, and it is my goal and the goal of our staff to create an urgent yet personable feel within the organization. Our calling deals with the worst day of many people’s lives. Therefore we have to be able to be skilled, trustworthy and ready in a moment’s notice. We have to accomplish these actions through a combination of skill and trust, with trust being of the utmost importance.
Tell us a little bit about your background and what led you to become Avon’s new fire chief.
My background as it pertains to the fire service is nontraditional at its core. I started in the fire service in 2006 after applying with a good friend and former co-worker at Allison Transmission, Davion Carrillo. He and I finished first and third in the process out of over 200 applicants, and I had to refer to him as Mr. Number One for a few weeks, until our start date on July 17 of that year. We left the corporate world after nearly a decade of management and started our journey into the fire service with Brownsburg Fire Territory.
In 2019, after holding various leadership positions with IAFF Local 4406 of Hendricks County, being a peer fitness trainer for Brownsburg Fire Territory, and an engine chauffeur of E133-C, I accepted the position as the health and safety chief, where I was afforded the opportunity to create various health and wellness initiatives, implement cancer prevention initiatives and begin mental health resiliency trainings, among other programs. The fire chief, Larry Alcorn, also involved me in many policy reviews that started in 2020 with the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. That experience was truly a trial by fire. Upon the completion of the pandemic protocols, I was assigned the position of public information officer along with my health and safety chief duties, where I held two appointed positions simultaneously until starting at Washington Township Avon Fire Department as the fire chief.
Upon the election of Washington Township Trustee Ryan Miller, he discussed various candidates he was considering for the position of fire chief. After rumors began swirling about me being a candidate when I was not, I decided to make the rumors true and turn in my resume to Trustee Miller and voiced my intent to be considered. After over a month of deliberation and near radio silence, he made his decision and called me in late January of 2023. My management background and letters of recommendation from former business associates and leaders, former fire chiefs, and the state fire marshal, led to his final decision. I believe in going after something once it has been fully considered, and I did just that with my intentions on being considered. Although it was not on my radar given my job satisfaction with Brownsburg Fire Territory, these chances only come once in a lifetime, and I had faith in myself and the potential of Washington Township Avon Fire Department, so I chose to put my best foot forward.
Tell us about your family.
I have been married to my wife, Stephanie, for 23 years and we have been together for nearly 26 years. We have three adult children, Devin,
23, Kelli, 22, and Dalton, 19. All are graduates of Decatur Central High School, and Kelli recently graduated Hanover College with a major in health and human movement. Devin is still taking classes, and Dalton will be starting college at Ivy Tech and transitioning to IUPUI in pursuit of a degree in communications.
Stephanie works for Maple Elementary in the Impact Program and has been employed by the Avon Community School Corporation for over four years. At the beginning of our relationship, she was working for Bank One NA until the birth of our third child. Being a high-risk pregnancy, she decided to focus on her health and become a stay-at-home mother. Having her at home proved invaluable to the development of our family, and is not something that is common in today’s society. We worked well together in our decision to structure our family as such, and she balanced my high energy and somewhat overzealous personality when needed. We are truly a continuing story of opposites attracting.
Today our oldest, Devin, is a football coach at Ben Davis High School while taking college classes. Dalton is pursuing his dream of becoming a professional wrestler while working on his degree. Kelli recently accepted a position as the assistant aquatic director with the Metropolitan School District of Pike Township, and is also serving as the assistant high school varsity swim coach.
They have been a blessing to watch grow up and participate in sports, where each excelled physically and/or academically at various levels. Devin was able to participate in the 2018 5A state finals for football his senior year at Decatur Central, where he was all-conference and honorable mention All-Marion County. Kelli was a team captain for track and swimming at Decatur Central High School, and was a key part of Hanover College’s HCAC indoor track conference championship her freshman year and HCAC outdoor track and field conference championship her senior year. She finished her senior year at Hanover College on the dean’s list for academic achievement. Dalton wrestled for Decatur Central, and lettered all four years while being academic All-Conference and academic All-State his junior and senior years, with a cumulative GPA of over 3.9 on a 4-point scale.
What do you like most about the Avon Community?
The Avon community has a great respect and support of public safety. The school system is great and the after-school activities coupled with the Washington Township parks system provides endless entertainment opportunities. Washington Township and Avon provide a great family atmosphere for education, living, growth and entertainment.
What is your favorite local restaurant and why?
According to my Apple CarPlay, it must be Hirosaki. Every Tuesday or Wednesday it automatically maps me to that location. If I were to deny that, I would be afraid of the repercussions that may happen due to the rapidly evolving AI element. Depending on the day, 3 Agaves may be a close second. However, there are many great restaurants in the area where our staff visits through the week, and my wife and I frequent on weekends.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Spare time has not been so spare lately, but when it is available I spend it lifting weights with my kids or coaching football. I also serve on the staff at Ben Davis High School as the Hudl video coordinator and assistant linebacker coach.
What motto do you try and live by, and why?
I try to live by a few mottos. First, if you don’t know, ask because someone will tell you. If you don’t know how, ask because someone will show you. If you don’t care, leave because nobody has time for lack of passion.
Second, there is such thing as a first and last, so don’t settle for mediocre. Put forth your best effort and take what is yours. If you do not, someone else will.
Third, nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.
What’s the best vacation you’ve ever been on?
Sounds clichéd, but any vacation away from the hustle and taken with friends or family is a great vacation. Ideally, I would be on a beach with good music and a few cocktails.
What is a unique skill or talent you have?
Outside of the gift of gab, I don’t have a unique skill or talent.
Why did you leave your previous position as public information officer at Brownsburg Fire Territory?
My previous position with Brownsburg Fire Territory was not just PIO. It was also health and safety chief. I held both appointed positions simultaneously and was compensated as such. I will never forget my time at Brownsburg Fire Territory, our recruit class (Class 06-008), our Training Captain Alex Brand, and Fire Chief Mike Rosemeyer. Brownsburg Fire and those particular individuals shaped me, my view of the fire service and my willingness to step into this position – not to mention the administrative staff that allotted me the opportunity to begin my administrative duties prior to accepting the position of fire chief with WTAFD.
Chief Rosemeyer was one of the first people I contacted when I decided to consider this move. His advice was to discuss the demands of the opportunity with my wife and family because this responsibility required me to be all-in, but he would write a letter of recommendation if I confirmed with them first. Chief Rosemeyer was what we call a firefighter’s fire chief. This means that you serve the people who serve the people, while being conservative with taxpayer dollars. Ultimately, do what is right versus what is solely asked of an elected official responsible for your appointment. We ask our brave men and women to take an oath that may require them to risk everything to save a life. Therefore, as the fire chief I have to be willing to make the same sacrifice for right and wrong. Always stand for what protects the fire and EMS personnel, and their ability to serve the community, versus a political agenda. He held true to that in his tenure, and I plan on following that example within my own personality and abilities.
What do you want people to know about the department that they may not already know?
Our department is fully committed to the service of this community. Our relationship with our community partners and the Avon Police Department is unparalleled versus my observation of departments in our general area. Contrary to the running jokes and riffs between police and fire, our two entities truly respect one another and stay in contact on a regular basis to create a true public safety presence.
We are a township-based department formally named Washington Township Avon Fire Department. We serve the township and town equally, but are funded by the township as a whole.
What’s your favorite Hendricks County tradition/event and why?
National Night Out, because Chief Stoops and his staff put on a great event that benefits both entities, police and fire. Though National Night Out is a police-driven event, we are able to participate and meet our citizens en masse as attendees as well. WTAFD and APD truly have a great working relationship from the street level through the administrative office positions.
Are you a Taylor Swift fan and did you get a code/tickets? What’s your favorite Taylor Swift song?
Taylor Swift is one of the best football players ever. Right? Maybe not – I may have that name confused with the first concert my daughter went to as a young child.
