Becker named Best of Wimberley firefighter

The Best of Wimberley contest allowed the people of the Wimberley Valley to vote for their favorites in more than 100 categories. (See the full special section inside this week’s paper.) Klaus Becker won the category for Best Firefighter, but humble as ever, he is still trying to figure out how he won the contest.

“I know that my inlaws voted for me. I think my wife and I know a teacher at St. Stephen’s. That’s all really. That’s the people that said, ‘Hey, we voted for you.’” Klaus Becker said.

While the pandemic stopped his main work, in the entertainment industry, Becker continued to work in other fashions. He began the work necessary to get certifications that he can put to use as a firefighter in Wimberley.

His day job is in production management, building LED walls and as a production electrician, other highly technical projects for touring groups.

His story on getting to Wimberley is a winding and map-hopping route. It all started in Germany.

“My dad was a lieutenant colonel in the German army and my mom was a homemaker, traditional German. My dad passed away at an early age. Then my mom remarried a Canadian. So we moved to Canada,” he said.

“Then I ended up in the music industry touring. And this one company I was freelancing for, they had a show that was touring through the US. So I went on that for two years. I was ready to call it a day with that. And that’s when they open up the Las Vegas office.”

He met his wife Suzanne. She is a Texas girl, so naturally they decided to move to Texas. Like many in town, his in-laws were originally from Houston, but had relocated to Wimberley. They initially thought of moving to Round Rock, but after seeing what Wimberley offered, the choice became easy.

“My daughter was seven… She had just finished kindergarten. Good time to move. And the schools are phenomenal. The teachers here are fantastic teachers. And the more integrated you are into your kid’s education, the more they work with you.”

Living here a while, he decided to volunteer for the Wimberley Fire Department. He remembered growing up on the Alberta-Montana border, volunteers pitched in to put out a fire in his neighborhood.

“I saw a couple fires up close in our neighborhood. And that kind of really drives it home too. One of the victims was a 14 year old, a girl I used to babysit up the street and unfortunately passed away in a fire,“ he continued.

“I saw the volunteers. And I’m like, man that would be something cool. That’d be something where you help out and stuff. And that’s kind of where I was at. Instead of helping out afterwards, helping someone rebuild, which is a good thing. You also want to be the guy that’s there to help when the bad things are happening. So I came in to talk to Chief and I said, ‘Hey, with my schedule, that’ll work.’”

Being without entertainment jobs, he continued to get certifications and help out any way he could including fire inspections.

“So in that last year, I’ve been just taking a lot of certifications. We went from full volunteer to what’s called a combination department where we have full-time staff, 24/7.” He continued.

“So the chief told me he needs an inspector. And out of that, I have a guy out of the fire marshal’s office who’s been taking me under his wing, fantastic. Then he tells me to become an investigator. So I became a fire investigator. And then when we went full time here, everybody went through Fire Academy. So I went, now I should train the same as you guys. I went through Fire Academy, which was fun.”

Another responsibility he took on was as a Fire & Life Safety Educator, holding community programs in the near future. With so many people living in rural areas, it might be critical knowledge to learn what to do for fire safety.

His favorite thing about being a volunteer firefighter is simply being a part of the community helping and serving the community. “It’s a camaraderie thing. Sometimes you get a call, and then you come back. And of course, you always analyze everything. You did all your steps. And you go, man, you know. I wonder if I could have done this different … I kind of did this like this, is there another way to do that?”

Becker also just achieved a major milestone. He became a proud U.S. citizen a few weeks ago. So if you see Klaus, congratulate him on his ‘Best Of’ award, and shake the hand of a fellow U.S. citizen.