Rhonda Deese, a third generation firefighter at the Nicol Volunteer Fire Department, holds the fire station’s third generation mascot on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013. The one-month-old “‘Dalmatian chicken” hasn’t been named yet but is the grand-chicken of the station’s original mascot from 1999.TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Most people would picture a Dalmatian dog as the typical fire department mascot, but Nicol Volunteer Fire Department’s mascot is a Dalmatian who is more likely to cluck than bark.
“She’s a cutie,” said Gaston Wilson, Nicol VFD’s chief, when describing the department’s as-yet-unnamed 1-month-old Dalmatian chicken.
The speckled black and white bird is the grand-chicken of Allan Jr., the Nicol VFD’s original mascot. He was named after the department’s first fire chief, Steven Allan Sullivan, who died in 2008.
She’s the third generation in her fowl family to proudly carry on the Nicol VFD mascot tradition.
The story of how Allan Jr. became Nicol VFD’s mascot – and in the process became a celebrity chicken – dates back to 1999.