Captain William Cobb

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Captain William Cobb began his career with HCFR in 1996. During his career, he was promoted to Driver Engineer in 2009 and in 2013 was promoted to Captain. He is assigned to HCFR Station 3 in Summerfield Crossings area of Hillsborough County. 

 On March 19, 2018, fire and rescue units from Sta. 3 were dispatched in the Riverview area for a shooting with multiple patients. Upon arrival, Captain Cobb quickly realized the scene was still evolving with a working structure fire and at least two shooting victims, and the suspected shooter still active in the area.  After Sheriff’s Deputies secured the scene, he assigned his Driver Engineer to the Rescue unit to assist with patient care in preparing a medical evacuation by helicopter. Despite having a short crew, they connected the apparatus to a hydrant, pulled the attack lines, began an initial attack on the fire before additional crews arrived. Captain Cobb made command decisions on a very chaotic scene that positively affected the outcome of one pediatric trauma alert, protected his crew and quickly extinguished a residential structure fire.  For this and other exceptional service, Captain William Cobb was selected as the 2018 Chet Tharpe Firefighter of the Year.  

Captain Cobb has been married to his wife, Robin, for 22 years. They have three daughters, Savannah, Allison and Meghan.