Battalion Chief Roberts joined the Douglas County Fire Department in August 1991 after completing college. He always aspired to pursue a career in civil service as a fireman. After attending Emergency Medical Technician School, Douglas County hired him. Roberts has been married for 32 years and has two adult children, ages 28 and 24.

Roberts feels his duty is not a job, but a calling. What he does with the Douglas County Fire/EMS Department for the citizens is his passion. He never took on the responsibility of his job to be a hero, or just the money. He took on the career to fulfill a purpose.

Roberts loves his career, and he loves his wife. Married just one month after the Douglas County Fire/EMS Department hired him, Roberts and his wife remain just as close. He says, with a smile on his face, she knows his schedule – 24 hours on, 48 hours off.

But the most memorable event of his career happened while he was off duty with his wife on April 2, 2016.

When his children were young and attending daycare near the fire station, his wife would always pick the children up and come by the fire station. He would always play around with his kids. She often viewed him goofing around with the kids and relaxing in a lawn chair and engage as the fun-loving father she married.

Roberts was off duty one day, when he and his wife were leaving their subdivision and Roberts observed a gentleman lying on his back in his yard with his wife leaning over him. Roberts knew the gentleman, who often walked in the neighborhood. Roberts told his wife, “That did not look right!” Roberts stopped and he and his wife both got out of the car. Sure enough, the man was in distress in full arrest with his wife on the phone with E-911. Roberts immediately jumped into action. He asked his wife to get the injured man’s wife inside the house and said that he would handle this. He grabbed the phone, identifying who he was to the 911 dispatcher and to get Company 5 in route. Roberts began performing CPR, as he was the only first responder there. After the fifth CPR attempt, the injured man took a breath. Once the ambulance arrived, Roberts assisted the rescue team in loading the patient for transport. Roberts said the patient went into full arrest about two or three more times. After 2 months, the patient was released from the hospital and able to enjoy his life.

Although Roberts was proud to have helped save a man’s life, what surprised him most was his wife later that afternoon. After the chaos and urgency settled, Roberts noticed his wife was quiet and had a tear. Roberts said his wife then told him, “Today was the first day, I got to see what you do.”