Spokane County Fire District 10 chief Nick Scharff is one of those rare firefighters who stays with one department their entire career. Now, after nearly 44 years, the end of that career is approaching with Scharff planning to retire in June.
Scharff became a volunteer firefighter with Spokane County Fire District 10 (SCFD10) in 1976 when he was just 18. At that time, the department was dispatched via a phone tree.
“A dispatcher who worked from their own home would call your home to dispatch you to a call,” Scharff said in an email. “Shortly after, 911 was made a reality.”
For Scharff, firefighting was somewhat of a family business. Both his father and father-in-law worked in the industry, his father as volunteer and his wife’s father as a fire chief. Now, Scharff’s son is a career firefighter for the district.
“I guess I came by it somewhat naturally,” Scharff said.
Scharff volunteered at District 10 for 20 years while owning and running a construction business, and in 1996 was accepted as one of the two first-ever fulltime career firefighters there.
Soon after, Scharff was promoted to deputy chief, then to the assistant chief position. In Jan. 2006 he took over as fire chief.
Deputy fire chief of safety and logistics Jack Krill has been with the department for just over a year, and said one of the things that originally attracted him to the job was working for Scharff.
“He’s the best boss I’ve ever had,” Krill said. “He’s a really good guy — level-headed, fair.”
Some career highlights included helping with the construction of the district’ headquarters fire station and training center on Garfield Road in 1997 after they began responding to local emergency medical calls in 1996, Schaff said.
“With my construction background behind me I was able to provide some oversite to building (the station),” Scharff said in an email. “Hundreds if not thousands of firefighters have been trained over the years to national standards to serve our local community and state/federal agencies such as DNR/Forest Service and many others.”
In the mid-2000s, Scharff was also selected to serve as a lead safety officer to one of Washington’s five Type 2 Incident Management teams, managing major fires and other incidents statewide. He tackled out-of-state incidents on 14-day assignments and still enjoys incident management jobs, he said, “however, the 14-day campouts are not as much fun as in younger days.”
SCFD10’s board of commissioners is working with a hiring firm to secure Scharff’s replacement, Krill said. The position closes Friday, April 12.
Scharff said he hopes to step back in June, though may stay on later to help train the next chief in order to make the transition as smooth as possible.
“It really hasn’t hit me that I’m not going to be here,” Scharff said. “Of course, I’m going to live in the community so it’s not like I’ll be a stranger to the organization.”
Scharff said he wanted to thank the elected officials he has worked with over the years, as well as the board of commissioners for helping him do the best job possible.
Most importantly, he said, he thanked the community for supporting the fire district.
“Everyone has played an important role and provided support that has allowed SCFD10 to provide the best service possible,” Scharff said. “It has been an honor to have worked for all of you.”
Shannen Talbot can be reached at [email protected].
Reader Comments(0)