Meet your local firefighter: Mike MacLellan | Guest column

Published 11:48 am Thursday, January 29, 2015

By Sheila Harley/San Juan Island Fire Rescue

If you ask any little boy what he wants to be when he grows up, many times the answer will be, “I want to be a firefighter when I grow up.”

As far back as Mike MacLellan remembers, he has always wanted to be a firefighter.

When he lived in California, one had to go to school to be a paid firefighter, which did not fit Mike’s lifestyle at the time.

When he came back to the island, after being away for some 20 years, Vern Long, the town of Friday Harbor’s fire chief, asked Mike to volunteer and join the town fire department. Mike jumped at the chance.

He was with the fire department for three years before transferring to San Juan Island Fire Department at its inception in 2006.

Mike founded and works at MJM Home Services. He is a licensed contractor and can turn his hand to almost any job. His wife, Elizabeth, is a member of logistics team with the fire department. They have two dogs.

Volunteering is Mike’s joy. He loves helping people.

He volunteers at the Animal Shelter, where he built a kitty camp for their cats. He helped replace the floor of the stage at The San Juan Community Theatre.

He has helped with the Festival of Trees and was an actor in their production of  “The Sound of Music.” He has helped out with Homes for Islanders and helped build the Thrift Shop’s new building.

“I’m addicted to volunteering,” MacLellan said.

He’s taken the ladder truck to help celebrate children’s birthdays, helps at the fire department’s Easter egg hunt and at the elementary school during safety week.

In his spare time, he loves mountain biking, fishing and off-road driving.

— Sheila Harley is public information officer of San Juan Island Fire & Rescue