Garland Fire Department driver/engineer David Riggs celebrated his retirement Saturday, Feb. 2 at The Flying Saucer. He served the citizens of Garland for 33 years. He also served the fire department as a dedicated, hard-working president of the Garland Fire Fighters Association #1293.
Current and former Council Members Jerry Nickerson, Scott Lemay, Rich Aubin, B.J. Williams, Garland’s Mayor Lori Dodson and former Texas State Representative Cindy Burkett, along with family, friends and colleagues, joined in the celebration.
GFD Chief Mark Lee presented Riggs with a plaque and a flag that flew over Station 5 during his last shift. Lee joked that when he met Riggs for the first time Riggs said that he would be Lee’s “awareness coach.”
The chief said that Riggs did keep him aware, “sometimes ahead of schedules and sometimes in retrospect,” at which time Riggs would tell him, ‘Chief, that wasn’t very smart.’
Lee said that during that first meeting, he thought Riggs sounded more like a fire chief than like a union boss and that much of the vision that he saw for the Garland Dire Department aligned with what a good fire chief should see.
In the absence of the newly installed Fire Fighters Association President William “Bill” Crews, Brandon Day was honored to present Riggs 
with an Association Axe which is presented to retirees that are members of the GFFA.
He said that true to the adage about leaving things better than you find them, Riggs left the Garland Fire Department better than he found it.
“I don’t know anybody who has done a better job of that in GFD than David Riggs,” he said. “He’s taken us to levels we’ve never been before. For that we will be eternally grateful. He’s been more of a mentor to me than anyone else. He’s also been one of my best friends in this department.”
Riggs said that he had enjoyed his career at GFD.
“It’s been a true pleasure to serve the citizens of Garland at a high level of customer service,” he said. “It has been great working with all of you.”
Riggs will be missed not only by his GFD colleagues, but by everyone at the city of Garland and many residents who became accustomed to seeing him at events around town.
Mayor Lori Dodson said that Riggs’ will be missed.
“It’s a big loss for the city of Garland,” she said. “However, I expect he will still be around for help if needed. He has done more for Garland than most people.”