Some kids dream about growing up to be a firefighter; others dream about being a cowboy. Zack Hunnicutt is living the dream of being both. He is a member of the Pearland, TX, Fire Department, and he is a competitive team roper on the rodeo circuit.
After graduating from Aledo High School, where he played football and was on the high school rodeo team, Hunnicutt wasn’t sure what the next step would be.
“My dad suggested that I start volunteering at the local fire department to see if a career in firefighting might be in my future,” Hunnicutt says. “I started volunteering, and I fell in love with it.”
Hunnicutt went on to attend the Texas Fire Academy, which is held at the Fire Service Training Center on the Tarrant County College Campus in Fort Worth. He eventually became an firefighter/paramedic.
While he works in Pearland, Hunnicutt lives in Brock, which is 30 minutes from Stephenville (aka the Cowboy Capitol of Texas) but more than four hours away from Pearland. “We work 48/96, so it’s easy to make the 4½ [hour drive],” he says. “I drive this far because I absolutely love the city I work for and the citizens who I get to serve. I feel like we have the best administration chiefs in the country, and the guys and girls I get to work with every day are hands down the best group of people. I am truly blessed to be a part of this group.”
Born to be a roper
Although firefighting has become his passion, Hunnicutt practically was born to be cowboy (or, in this case, a rodeo roper).
“I got into roping, because my dad roped, and I was always out in the arena with him pushing cattle and opening the chute for him and his buddies,” Hunnicutt says. “I would always warm up his horse and would rope the dummy when they took a break.”
Hunnicutt entered his first roping competition when he was just 7 years old, although he can’t exactly remember how old he was when he started roping.
“What I do remember is that, whenever I would get into trouble at school or at home, my dad would make me go outside and rope the dummy until he got tired of watching me out the window,” he explains. “I’m guessing I was maybe about 3 years old when I first started roping. I was too small to ride a normal saddle, so my dad got two dog collars and put stirrups in them and attached them to the front D-rings of the saddle, so I could rope and ride.”
Feel the rush
When asked to compare his two passions, Hunnicutt says the adrenaline rush of getting the call, be it the fire alarm or the announcer calling out that this catch could win the competition, can’t be beat.
“When you are sitting at the dinner table or asleep in bed or doing training drills and you hear the tones drop for a house fire, a motor vehicle accident with entrapment or a CPR in progress … I have been a career firefighter for 6½ years, and I still get excited and can feel my heart pounding,” Hunnicutt says. “The same goes for being in the high callback position in the short round with $20,000 on the line. The nerves get to you, you have butterflies in your stomach, but you have to try and stay calm, because your horse can feel every muscle that contracts and every movement as you ride in the box for your short round steer.”
The danger zone
Although the rush is exhilarating, Hunnicutt knows that there are dangers in both professions and suffered serious injuries on each job. He recalls responding to a structure fire one morning as mutual aid to a neighboring department. Hunnicutt took a handline around the back side of a garage to extinguish a small fire that rekindled. As he walked around back, all power was cut, and he couldn’t see anything. He took a step back and fell into a swimming pool in the backyard.
“I self-extricated but noticed that I messed up my knee,” he says. “I was transported by one of our medic units to the local hospital. I ended up with a sprained MCL and was off duty for a few weeks.”
Back at that first roping competition when he was just 7 years old, Hunnicutt’s horse fell on him and broke Hunnicutt’s left leg. “I’ve also been bucked off horses several times and kicked by steers,” he adds, “but that’s just part of roping and livestock.”
Hunnicutt says firefighting is so much more dangerous than roping, but the key to staying safe in both is training.
“When the tones drop, you rely on your training to get the job done,” he says. “The same goes for roping. When the gate opens, all that hard work and training kicks in.”
Teamwork
Hunnicutt believes that firefighting and team roping are very similar in that each person on the team needs to do his/her job to get an effective outcome.
“You could get off the engine, pull a line to the front door, make a perfect forcible entry on the door, enter and start putting water on the fire, but if your backup man doesn’t do his job as far as humping hose and assisting the nozzle man around corners of the structure, then you can’t effectively do your job in a fast, timely manner,” he says.
“The same goes for team roping. If the header ropes the steer fast but yanks the steer away from heeler, you aren’t doing a good job for your heeler, and he misses or he has to track across the arena, and that just adds seconds to the run and puts your team further back in the hunt for the money.”
Off off duty
When he isn’t fighting fires or roping cattle, Hunnicutt enjoys running. He’ll run between 1½–2½ miles every other day. He also loves to bow hunt during hunting season. During the summer, he always is up for a good time floating on the river or being out on the lake. Other than that, he really would just prefer to be riding or hanging out with his horses or his dad.
“Still to this day, me and dad always are out in the backyard in the arena roping steers or riding our horses.”
Pearland Fire Department
The Pearland Fire Department (PFD) serves an area of more than 75 square miles with a population of approximately 130,000. Pearland is ranked as the second-fastest growing city in Texas. The department responds to more than 10,000 calls for service per year and is responsible for fire suppression, emergency medical response, rescue, fire investigations and inspections within its jurisdiction. Since 2007, PFD has evolved from a volunteer department to a career department that’s supplemented by part-time employees who staff five stations.
Team Roping
Team roping is a rodeo event that features a steer and two mounted riders. The “header” is the person who ropes the front of the steer. Once the steer is caught by one of three legal head catches, the header must use his horse to turn the steer to the left. The “heeler” then ropes the steer by its hind feet. Zack Hunnicutt uses the Classic Powerline Team Rope in competition and relies on Classic Equine Boots for his horse. Hunnicutt and his partner, Danielle Darnell, placed fourth in an event at the National Finals Rodeo this past December.
Firehouse Staff
Content written and created by Firehouse Magazine editors.
