Retiring Chief Dedicated to Honoring Fallen Heroes

Woodbridge, Va. — After 34 years with Prince William County’s fire department, Chief Hadden Culp will take off his fire hat one last time Wednesday.

From his office in at the McCoart Building on Prince William Parkway in Woodbridge, Culp, 54, has overseen a large portion of the department, including community outreach division in charge of fire prevention, safety education, and the fire marshal’s office that investigates some of the most sinister fires.

It’s been a job in a department with more than 500 career firefighters, as well as countless volunteers who all work together protect Prince William’s more than 400,000 residents, that has kept him searching for more hours in the day to complete what he wants to get done.

Dedicated to safety, Culp has been known to be the guy who stops on the side of the road to help strangers with flat tires, or has been seen picking up small sheets of paper lying on floors so that others don’t trip. Though he’s retiring, that dedication will continue into his next project: bringing a memorial to Richmond that will recognize the names of public safety workers – fire, rescue and police – who have all been killed in the line of duty.

Once that’s done, he said he’ll work to bring a similar memorial to Prince William County.

“It breaks my heart to see affect a catastrophe can take in peoples’ lives, knowing that catastrophe could have been prevented, whether it’s hot ashes that were placed beside a fireplace that caused a fire, problems with a turkey fryer, Christmas decorations right down to not wearing a helmet on a skateboard,” said Culp.

Getting out the safety message to schools, businesses, community groups and just about anyone else who will listen is one of his biggest responsibilities. A long-time face around the department and Culp’s replacement, Lance McClintock, is urged by his predecessor to continue to build relationships inside the communities that will keep educational outreach efforts going.

Culp wasn’t always a firefighter. While in college, he was taking classes that didn’t interest him that much, he admits. He worked as an electrician to make ends meet and volunteered as a fireman in Vienna for five years.

He then began to take fire science classes and it wasn’t long after that he was bitten by the bug to become a career firefighter. He applied to work in Fairfax and Prince William counties in Virginia and Montgomery County in Maryland.

Prince William was the only one that called him back.

“You’re not a number here,” said Culp. “I know my department chief by first name, members of the Board of Supervisors by first name, and I don’t think I would have had the same experience if I had gone to Montgomery County or anywhere else.”

As the county continues to grow, Culp said the department will continue to “augment to meet the demand” placed on it by its residents.

While the volunteer departments have a rich history in the county, there’s always talk about expanding the role of career firefighters – much like what happened recently at a Dumfries fire station.

Currently a mixed system with both career and volunteer staff, Culp describes the overall Department of Fire and Rescue like any other democracy, and, at times, like a presidential debate.

“There are a lot of people here with a lot of opinions. We don’t always agree on everything, but we debate, we decide, take a vote on matters and then move on,” said Culp.

While he’s never called what he does work, he credits his wife for holding down the fort at home, especially during the early years, helping him to make his career and passion to serve a reality. Culp’s field has also played a role in his children’s interests as his son has volunteered at OWL VFD in Woodbridge for 10 years starting when he was 15-years-old and his daughter is putting the finishing touches on a medical billing degree program.