After more than 3 decades, fire chief in Yelm-Rainier area bids fond goodbye

Rita Hutcheson was looking for a way to get involved in the community when she noticed a sign: “Volunteers wanted.”

It was 1980, and Hutcheson, then a registered nurse in the Army, had lived in the Yelm-Rainier area for about two years.

She and friend Cheryl Edman saw the Rainier Fire Department sign and made a pact that if they liked the chief, they’d volunteer.

“Turned out the guy was absolutely wonderful,” she said. “I joined as a volunteer in 1980 and have been involved ever since.”

Hutcheson, 66, is retiring at the end of the year as chief of Southeast Regional Thurston Fire Authority – a department created by a voter-approved merger of the Yelm and Rainier fire departments. Colleagues say that merger couldn’t have happened without Hutcheson’s hard work.

Two departments that once depended on volunteer firefighters now are one, staffed with 19 career firefighter/EMTs and three chiefs. Hutcheson hopes residents will always see that the regional fire department is a service organization that’s part of the community.

“I like to think I was part of building that,” she said.

Edman, who has known Hutcheson for 35 years and is her next-door neighbor, said Hutcheson has always been there for her community. She visits the sick in the hospital and takes calls at her home from residents who have questions and concerns. It was the work behind the scenes coupled with her vision that made her a great leader, Edman said.

“She was there for her people,” Edman said. “She was good at mentoring leaders from the ranks as well.”

It was Hutcheson’s passion and need to be involved that led her to become chief of the Rainier Fire Department the year she retired from the military.

LEAVING A LEGACY

Colleagues and friends praised Hutcheson’s vision and leadership skills.

Interim chief Mark King said she was vital in getting residents behind the ideas of regionalizing services.

“She’s brilliant with getting public support,” said King, who has worked with Hutcheson for more than 10 years.

Recently retired Fire Commissioner Kathleen Devin met Hutcheson at Madigan Army Hospital in 1986 after serving as a nurse in Germany. She volunteered alongside her in Rainier and later provided EMT training for both districts. “I was just fascinated to be able to watch,” she said of Hutcheson’s leadership.

Tumwater Fire Chief John Carpenter volunteered with the Yelm Fire Department for 10 years. He said fire coverage has come a long way under Hutcheson and that the merger has produced better fire response.

“They are in a real unique position because they are isolated,” he said. “She’s had her hands full.”

George and Kathy Meyers have lived in the Bald Hills area since 1969 and say Hutcheson has a very good reputation.

George Meyers remembers Hutcheson bringing out the volunteer force to the poultry farm he managed to make sure the firefighters knew where all the water hookups were in case of a fire.

“She’s always kept the community in touch with what’s going on,” he said.

A CAREER BEFORE A CAREERM

When Hutcheson joined the Rainier Fire Department as a volunteer, she was 12 years from retiring from the Army. She joined in 1965 to take advantage of a program to help pay for nursing school.

She wound up serving 27 years, rising in the ranks as a registered nurse doing mostly administrative work. She was stationed all over the country and spent time in Korea. During her military service, she got her first bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree.

Just before retiring, she went to Desert Storm.

“I had my war at the end of my career, not at the beginning, with Vietnam,” she said. “For some reason, I avoided that. I guess I was meant to have my war at the end.”

‘A MAN’S ORGANIZATION’

Much has changed since Hutcheson started as a volunteer.

She and her friend had military backgrounds, and Hutcheson said neither was too concerned about working in a “man’s organization.” She said hard work would make the men forget they were responding to emergencies alongside women.

“We both had pretty good respect from our peers, and, quite frankly, they didn’t care as long as we were willing to get dirty and doing the work,” she said.

Edman said that some men had issues with high school students and women volunteering and that some quit in protest.

“We never went away, and those guys never came back,” she said.

On her first day, she was given a little black box with the instructions that if went off, she should write down the address and go.

Edman and Hutcheson went on their first call together. Hutcheson recalled it was a motorcycle crash in which a man broke his leg. She admits being nervous but said her nursing skills kicked in.

Edman remembers the two not knowing how to get to the remote location, which forced the duo to walk through the woods for about a mile before coming upon the scene.

“We were adrenaline junkies, and we kinda lived for going on calls at that time,” Edman said.

BECOMING CHIEF

Fire commissioners pushed Hutcheson to become the fire chief when she was still in the Army. She said she wouldn’t take on the duty if she couldn’t devote the time.

When she finally agreed to become Rainier’s fire chief, she told herself she’d give it six months.

That was in 1992, nearly 20 years ago.

During Hutcheson’s tenure, the community evolved and more people moved in. It was harder to answer all of the calls with just volunteers, so Hutcheson’s department began working more closely with Yelm to share workers and resources.

In 2002, the two districts drew up a proposal that would put Hutcheson in charge of administrative duties, with now-interim Chief Mark King handling operations. The two departments became interdependent but weren’t fully merged.

“And we worked that way for several years and we continued to grow, hire people,” she said.

King, who was a volunteer in Yelm in 1992, said relying on volunteers became harder as the communities grew.

“As a volunteer agency, people can choose when they come and go,” he said. “As the call volume increased, the potential for those high-risk calls increased.”

Through the past decade, the departments worked together but still collected their own property taxes.

When a law passed authorizing regional fire authorities, Hutcheson jumped on the idea. Voters approved the proposition during a special election in February 2010, and the fire authority was formed soon after.

NEW CHALLENGES

Hutcheson said it feels like the right time to retire and understands there are many challenges facing the fire authority. The recession cut into development and house prices dipped, a scary scenario for an organization that relies on property tax revenue to operate, she said.

As chief, Hutcheson prided herself on opening and inspecting every bill that came to the department. She thought fire departments must be run more like businesses and less like social clubs. People expect more and want accountability for where their tax dollars were going, she said.

With the recession wreaking havoc on the economy, retaining services is vital, she said.

“We’re experiencing the downturn right now, and it’s about saving jobs,” she said. “We’ve got a great reputation in this community … and we’ve gotta keep as many of them on fire trucks as possible.”

And while she hasn’t officially been on call for response in several years and is taking vacation the rest of this year, this New Year’ Eve will be the first time in years that she hasn’t had to worry about being on call.

She’ll have to get used to not having the pager on and being in the know about emergencies.

Hutcheson has no agenda for retirement, but that’s fine by her.

She’s not going to travel the world (she got enough of that in the military), nor does she have many hobbies. For now, it’s time to do what she likes best: Be at home.

She plans on getting in more time with her John Deere tractor, a birthday present that she hasn’t gotten to use much so far.

“I’ve got 65 hours on that thing, but only 10 are mine,” she said.

Nate Hulings: 360-754-5476

nhulings@theolympian.com

www.theolympian.com/outsideoly