Fire Chief Alan Hull says goodbye to a department that has changed immensely since he joined in 1977

Thirty-five years after joining the Estacada Rural Fire District, Chief Alan Hull hung his badge up for the final time on Friday after a rollercoaster career.

Born in West Linn, Hull finished high school and was drafted into the U.S. Coast Guard for four years of active duty before a few years in active reserve. Nearing the end of his term on active reserve, Hull began searching for what the next step in his life would be.

"I stopped by the Estacada Fire Department and saw that they were hiring," he said. "I thought it would be a good job because I had gone through ship work firefighting, and I kind of liked it; it was kind of a thrill."

Intrigued by the possibility of becoming a firefighter, Hull applied but remained pessimistic as to whether he would get the job.

"It didn't look too favorable because a lot of volunteers had applied," he said. "But I made it to an interview, and they told me they had a substation up in George that needed to be wired. I was an electrician in the Coast Guard, so I got the job and wired the substation during the day while going to school at night."

While working toward his EMT license, Hull remembers an interesting story he had with one of the higher-ups at the station in which he was told not to buy a house in Estacada.

Despite assurances he wouldn't have a job beyond six months, Hull continued to work toward becoming EMT certified at Clackamas Community College. That certification would pay off.

"When I got certified and got to know people, they were happy with my work," he said. "They put me in charge and made me lieutenant in just a few years, and then in 1983 I was captain of the EMT training and certification."

Hull would hold that position for 20 years before becoming the station's fire marshal. That gig didn't last long because the chief quit abruptly, and all eyes turned to Hull to take over in 2004.

"I hadn't given it much thought, but the only position I hadn't held was fire training officer," he said. "I didn't know enough about the financial aspect, and I told the board that I didn't know if I was capable.

"I made no plans or goals to become chief, so I hadn't studied in areas that I needed to other than running a department-specific budget."

Ironically, Hull's financial concerns were quelled when the board assured him that Pamela K. Rowley-Butcher, the district's executive financial officer, would be more than capable of handling the financial side of things.

"They had Pam here and they told me she would help me through everything," he said. "A few years after that, they found out she was embezzling everything, and so I became far more educated, learning everything I needed to know."

Rowley-Butcher was sentenced to 10-1/2 years in prison after embezzling more than $1 million from the fire district.

"I got a real rapid education on everything as soon as that was discovered," Hull said. "We went into a full forensic audit for as many years as we had records, and so I got a very good understanding of what to do and how to fix what wasn't working. It was a crash course in financial controls and management."

While the embezzlement scandal was surely the low point of Hull's time as chief, the district has rebounded nicely to establish itself as a fiscally responsible organization.

Outside of his life at the station, Hull has four children - 16-year-old twin daughters, a 15-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son - whom he's excited about getting to spend more time with.

"My wife has started to work for a property management company, so somebody has to watch the kids," he joked. "There are a lot of things I missed out on because of work, since I was on call 24/7, and so I want to make up for the time I missed and spend time with them.

"It's awesome that I'm retiring while they're still at home; it will be a great experience for me."

While Hull has plenty to return home to, among the things he can share with his kids are the stories - both comical and terrifying - that he has gained over the years.

Among his favorite stories was the time a man crashed his car while drunk driving and was asked to count backwards from 100.

"I was standing there and the guy started going backwards - Z, Y, W - and I started laughing because the sheriff was telling him to count," Hull said. "The guy looked at me and asked what my badge number was, but I told him he had been watching too much television because we didn't have badge numbers. He said, ‘I'll remember that,' and I said, ‘I bet you will.'"

While non-life-threatening incidents like that allowed Hull to stand back and smile a bit, there were numerous instances where the mood was significantly more somber.

Hull recalled one instance in which he almost died after falling through a roof.

"I fell right where the fire started, and I thought I was a goner," he said. "I thought my tank would explode because I was just lying down in coals.

"Fortunately the guys were able to kick down the door and rescue me, and I learned a big lesson - always stick with your hose and your buddy."

While the experience was one of the scariest Hull had during his 35 years, he remembered a similar moment when he realized how lucky he is just to be alive.

"There was the fire when we lost five kids, and it was tragic because it was almost Christmas," he said. "My bell went off when we were in the center of the house because we were low on air. As soon as we got out of the house, the whole thing collapsed down.

"If I hadn't run out of air, which was very unusual, I wouldn't have made it."

The positive that came out of situations like that was a series of reforms Hull witnessed to help protect firefighters from unnecessarily putting themselves in harm's way.

"For many years, firefighting was the most dangerous occupation, and since then we've taken a risk/benefit analysis and taken a hard look at it," he said. "For the first 15 years of my career, we'd go into anything just to put it out because that was our job.

"Then nationwide there was this movement to take a look at the risk/benefit. If there is a life to save, then we're more than willing to make a heroic effort to save that person, but if there's no chance, why risk someone getting hurt or killed?"

As the fire department got smarter about how it approached fires, Hull also noted the significant advances in equipment the industry has experienced.

While 35 years is a long time in nearly any profession, Hull is grateful not only to be alive, but also for the times he spent in the community and with his crew. With no plans for what he'll do during retirement, other than spending more time with his family, Hull insists he's going to take a break from the department.

"It was time," he said. "It's a young man's job because you need to be able to do more than a normal 59- or 60-year-old; there's a reason they allow us to retire at 52.

"I'm going to take a break and maybe I'll come back as Fire Corps or something, maybe to the board of directors, but I would want people to think of me as a citizen, not chief.

"Bob (Morrisey) is well trained and well respected, so I have every confidence that he'll take over and do a great job."