If you've ever driven by Denver Fire Department Station 23 at night, you've likely seen the pink flamingo on the roof and wondered: What's that all about?
Years ago, a firefighter affixed a pink flamingo to the top of the building as a gag.
"The captain did not like it," said Captain J.D. Chism, who used to work at the station.
If there's one thing a captain can do to make sure something happens over and over again it's express extreme frustration.
The captain, Division Chief Scott Heiss, climbed to the roof and tore down the flamingo.
The next day, it reappeared. He did the same thing. And again, it reappeared.
"The next time he goes up there -- and this is where the lore starts -- he goes up there like Jason Elam, right? He punts it off the front of the firehouse. And from that point on, you started seeing the pink flamingo become more and more the mascot for the firehouse."
Soon, there was an indoor and outdoor pink flamingo. Then it started showing up on signs around the firehouse.
"What's the deal with the flamingos?" people would ask.
"Well, it's just a little slice of heaven here on South Federal," the firefighters would say.
At the time, Chism was a firefighter at Station 23. As a side hustle, he worked hanging Christmas lights.
"The place that I bought my Christmas lights from had these neon figurines of all kinds of different things," he said. "It had palm trees and birds. And then of course, I saw this pink flamingo, and I'm like, "We are going to put that on the firehouse.'"
He brought it to the station, and the firefighters hung it from the hose tower.
"It was like a beacon," he said. "Nobody ever saw it, except in the middle of the night, you see that nice pink flamingo."
Over the years, new light-up flamingos have been hung at the station.
The firefighters latest pick is six feet tall. They wired it themselves and put it on a timer, so it lights up at night.
When Chism was at the firehouse, he designed a pink flamingo patch inspired by Día de Los Muertos art, and the firefighters now wear it on their uniforms.
It's been years since the flamingo first showed up. The captain who hated it, Division Chief Heiss, retired in 2018. The flamingo he loathed is still there.
And to this day, firefighters returning from calls in the middle of the night see the flamingo, shining like a beacon, and they know they are coming home.
