When Robin Duren first told her firefighter dad that she wanted to join him in the ranks, he thought twice about it.
“I just asked her if she was sure,” said Tommie Williams, 68, who retired from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue in 2003 as a lieutenant. “I told her it was a dirty job and they weren’t going to take pity on her.”
Twenty-seven years later, Duren, 48, who has three children of her own, is Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s administrative operations division chief.
And what can make a father more proud than having one daughter follow in his footsteps? Having two. His daughter and Duren’s sister, Kellie Wiggins, 44, who taught for 11 years, accepted a job with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue about eight years ago.
“The desire was always there,” she said, noting she developed a love for the profession by watching her dad. “It was finally the right time.”
And when the three get together, they naturally have something to talk about.
“It always comes up,” Wiggins said. Williams got the idea of becoming a firefighter when he was in the sixth grade. A house in the neighborhood caught on fire and he watched the firefighters battling the blaze. Right then, he made his decision.