In his first interview as Dallas Fire Chief with WFAA, Justin Ball highlights his top priorities as he takes on his new role.
DALLAS — When Justin Ball moved from England to Dallas three decades ago, he didn’t expect the career and home he would find in North Texas.
Last week, Ball was officially named as the city’s new fire chief. After nearly 28 years with Dallas Fire-Rescue, Ball is stepping into the top role with a focus on firefighter wellness, efficiency, and community outreach.
“The residents of the city have been very good to me. The people in the fire department have been very good to me,” Ball said. “I’ve been embraced.”
Ball, who began his career in Dallas as a 26-year-old firefighter-paramedic, rose through the ranks over the years — from driver engineer to lieutenant, captain, and battalion chief. For the past 11 months, he served as the interim fire chief.
During that time as interim chief, Ball implemented key programs aimed at supporting the department’s 2,200 members. He expanded peer support services for mental health. He also launched MedicOne, a response initiative pairing social workers with paramedics on certain calls to better allocate resources. Ball said a new program called Quartermaster was also implemented in the last few months to help with cancer prevention for the members of Dallas Fire-Rescue.
“I suppose I showed that I can do the job and how I intend to continue the momentum,” Ball said.
Now officially sworn in, Ball says his top priorities remain clear: protecting the safety and wellness of his team.
“You’ve got to be safe and well to be able to protect the residents of the city,” he said.
He also aims to improve operational efficiency. That includes reevaluating which units are dispatched to non-emergency calls, such as minor injuries. “That means don’t send an engine and a truck with eight professional firefighter paramedics when someone sprained their ankle,” Ball explained. “In that, the response time gets better.”
Ball says the department constantly monitors response times to make sure all neighborhoods are served equally and quickly. “We have it pretty even across the whole city, and it will stay that way.”
Community outreach remains another focus. Ball plans to continue programs that install smoke detectors in homes and educate residents about fire safety.
With an ongoing pension shortfall affecting recruitment and retention across the department, Ball hopes his leadership and reforms will encourage new hires to stay for the long haul.
“I’d say the main thing at the moment is not just recruiting, it’s keeping them once they’re here,” he said.
As part of that effort, Ball has committed to being present at fire stations every Friday afternoon, inviting open conversation and feedback from personnel.
“Every Friday, I’ll be at a different station. They can ask me anything they want,” he said.
As the City of Dallas continues to grow, Chief Ball’s career has also grown with it. “I have all good intentions to make the city as safe as it can possibly be,” he said.
