Thad Dickerson was four years old the first time he considered being a firefighter.
He saw a bright red fire truck responding to a call of a house ablaze on Fifth Street Extension and thought, "Man, that’s it,” he told The Dispatch in 2009.
Dickerson, who served as fire chief in Lexington from 2004-2010, died on Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 65 years old.
He began working at the age of five, cleaning Sink and Green, a grocery store in his neighborhood. He worked in his family's janitorial business and drove school buses before finding his calling as a firefighter.
Dickerson began at the Lexington Fire Department in 1976. He worked there for two years before leaving to work at his family's business. He returned to the fire department in 1981 and stayed until his retirement 29 years later. While at the department, Dickerson worked his way up in the ranks, eventually becoming the chief in 2004.