Eric Latimer
Firefighter, Community Volunteer, and Patriot

Why Eric is Supporting Bob Dixon:
“I am supporting Bob because of his solid support for public safety. Bob is committed to making sure we have the resources we need to help our families live in a safe neighborhood.”

Eric’s story:
Eric is a 17-year veteran in fire services. He is a Captain with the Springfield Fire Department and is the current Vice President of the Springfield Firefighters Association as well as the Fourth District Vice President of the Missouri State Council of Firefighters. He was selected by his peers to receive the 2009 Fire Officer of the Year Award, and he also serves an Urban Search and Rescue Strategy and Tactics instructor for Louisiana State University. Eric has contributed countless hours of his own free time going door-to-door educating the public and civic organizations about local fire services.

Eric is very humble about his service to Springfield and his work for the broader fire service community. “I just represent professional firefighters that serve our community and ensure that they have the needed resources to perform their job safely and efficiently.”

When asked about a firefighter’s priorities, Eric says, “For Springfield Firefighters . . . and all professional firefighters for that matter . . . we all demand personal integrity, and we all have extreme pride in our public service. Excellence in all things is what we strive to achieve – whether that be in emergency response times or educating the public about fire safety. So, when we demand integrity and focus on excellence first, saving lives or preventing catastrophic loss becomes a by-product of our integrity and excellence. It’s not the other way around.”

Eric voiced his concerns with government: “Government is just out of control. Whether it is federal or local, government needs to be held to a higher standard. We are all tired of seeing out of control spending and monies being taken from programs that are supposed to be fully funded only to be put into programs that are non-essential; and really, programs the government has no business being in in the first place. It is time that we stand up and tell government, ‘Enough!’ We must make government accountable to the people once again.”

When asked why he is supporting Bob Dixon, Eric says, “Well first off, I am supporting Bob because he is willing to make state and local government accountable. We as firefighters are all supporting him because of his stance in the legislature in holding local governments more accountable to local taxpayer. But more importantly, I am supporting Bob because of his solid support for public safety. ‘Safe Neighborhoods’ is not just a political slogan to him . . . he is really committed to it, and he’s willing to fight for it. Bob is committed to making sure we have the resources we need to help our families live in a safe neighborhood.”