Meet your volunteer firefighters
Published 12:26 pm Monday, November 23, 2015
Kurt and Peggy are unusual in San Juan Island Fire & Rescue in that they are residents of Brown Island. The Longs, assigned to Station 37 on Brown Island, are caretakers there as well as firefighters.
Peggy grew up in Renton, Wash., Kurt grew up in Des Moines, Wash., and raised their family of two boys in Auburn, Wash. Their son, Michael, the assistant Harbor Master here in Friday Harbor, is also a firefighter. Their other son lives in Glendale, Calif. Before moving to San Juan Island, Peggy and Kurt owned a home inspection company which they sold in 2005. Both have their 100 Ton captain licenses and Kurt and Peggy had fun on the weekends running Dive Boats out of Tacoma. On the island they ran the Dive Shop for about five years. They sold the shop and have been on Brown Island since 2011. Kurt is a Lieutenant, Firefighter 2 (structural), WF2 (wildland), and Fire Boat Operator. He heads up the fire boat operation. His favorite job is captaining the Sheriff/Fire boat called the Sentinel, and supplies water to properties close to the shoreline and is involved in search and rescue on the water. His crew has a Boater Safety Card with various other qualifications required by the department they are employed with.Peggy is a WF2 (wild land) and is a member of the San Juan Island Fire & Rescue Logistics Team which provides food and drink for firefighters on the fire line. She loves to cook so this job is very satisfying for her.
“We need more good people to join our great organization,” said Kurt. “Yes, you put in a lot of time and energy but get more out of it than you put in.” Peggy said that there are lots of ways to help out in the fire department. “The more you put in, the more you get out of the group”. She probably would have joined the Logistics Department sooner if she had known about the various ancillary jobs San Juan Island Fire & Rescue has to offer.
San Juan Fire & Rescue For info, visit www.sjifire.org, Facebook page San Juan Island Fire & Rescue or call 378-5334.
