Alpine Fire Chief Bill Paskle announces retirement

After 31 years with the Alpine Fire Protection District, Chief Bill Paskle has announced his retirement.

Paskle, 54, will step down Dec. 30.

"I'll miss working with the guys around the station and the office staff," said Paskle, who grew up in Lakeside and graduated from El Capitan High School in 1983. "I'll miss working with all the other chiefs at agencies in the area, around the county and in the state of California. It's been a wonderful ride."

He began his fire service career in 1987 with the Bostonia Fire Protection District as a volunteer firefighter. The following year, he was employed as a seasonal firefighter for the California Department of Forestry (now California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection).

In 1989, he joined the department as a cadet firefighter and, in 2008, he became the district's first chief to rise through the ranks from firefighter to the top job. During his tenure, he initiated and oversaw the annexation of several areas to the district, increasing the jurisdiction by 25 percent.

He said when he began his career in Alpine, he had an experience early on that showed him how much the rural mountain town appreciated its firefighters.

"I was out eating lunch with the crew at a Mexican restaurant in town," Paskle recalled. "A gentleman walked by, threw two $20 dollar bills on the table and said, 'Lunch is on me.' And that's the way the community has been to us. They're so generous with us and you can just feel the love and the care for us."

Paskle said one of the most challenging times during his tenure was last year's West Fire, which destroyed 39 homes and 29 other buildings with nearly two dozen other residences damaged. Although the 2003 Cedar Fire was more damaging, destroying more than 2,200 homes, he said he was hit harder emotionally by the West Fire.

"It's the one that really I think about most," Paskle said. "I was one of the first people on scene. I was fire chief of the district and we lost almost 40 houses... The Cedar Fire was also one of those moments that really sticks out in my career. We lost more homes in the Cedar Fire - but I wasn't the chief, so that makes it a little different. You kind of do take it more personally when you're the chief."

He said living in a cozy town like Alpine and getting to know so many people makes every call more meaningful.

"That's part of the thing in a small community, you get to know everybody," Paskle said. "When something happens to people, you either know them, or somebody you know knows them."

As fire chief, Paskle formalized the four-person crew policy and was successful in decreasing response times in Alpine, the district said. The district's ISO rating, an insurance industry metric of a fire agency's effectiveness on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the top score, improved during Paskle's watch, from a rating of 6 down to 2.

Paskle said he isn't actively seeking work elsewhere, but didn't rule out future job considerations.

"If something comes up that's fun and interesting, I might consider it, but currently I don't have any plans," he said.

Paskle said he plans to stay busy in his role as vice president of the Kiwanis Club of Alpine and do some traveling with his wife of 20 years, Dana. The couple has two adult sons.

A successor has not yet been named, Board President Jim Easterling said. Paskle earns $171,935 annually.

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