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Chief Abbott to retire

North County Fire Protection District Fire Chief Steve Abbott will be retiring this summer.

Abbott plans to retire at the end of July. He will turn 55 on Aug. 2, although he is not required to retire at the age of 55. Abbott was hired by the North County Fire Protection District in March 1990, and he reached his maximum pension eligibility last year.

"I'm just sticking around an extra seven months just to help with the transition of the next leadership team," Abbott said.

The leadership transition would involve more than one individual if the new fire chief is promoted internally, which would create a vacancy for the new fire chief's previous position. All previous NCFPD fire chiefs (other than original fire chief Bill Thurber, who retired before the district adopted its current name) were promoted from within the department. "That's my recommendation, but we'll see what the board decides," Abbott said.

Abbott was promoted to the position of NCFPD fire marshal in December 2001. In December 2005, he became the battalion chief for emergency medical services, and he was the division chief for administration from September 2014 to July 2015. He was promoted to the position of deputy fire chief in July 2015. In September 2015, the NCFPD board selected Abbott as the new fire chief to replace Bill Metcalf when Metcalf retired in December 2015.

"I feel very blessed to have worked with the different positions in the fire department," Abbott said.

He was thus fire marshal during the February 2002 Gavilan Fire, battalion chief during the October 2007 Rice Fire and the May 2014 Highway Fire, and fire chief during the December 2017 Lilac Fire. "I've seen it from all angles," Abbott said.

His tenure as division chief included the December 2014 closure of Fallbrook Hospital. "That's the reason that we had to restructure how we staff our ambulances," Abbott said.

The new NCFPD Station 5 opened in 2015 when Abbott was the division chief. The new location of the Bonsall station allowed the fire district to close Station 3 in 2018, when Abbott was the fire chief. The Rainbow Volunteer Fire Department was consolidated into the North County Fire Protection District in 2018.

"I really appreciate the support I've gotten from our board and our troops over the years because all that change we made, we couldn't have done it without them," Abbott said.

After graduating from San Diego State University in 1988, Abbott began his fire service career in the City of San Diego as a paramedic with Hartson's Ambulance Service from 1988 to 1990. The North County Fire Protection District implemented its paramedic program in 1990 and had the first alternative paramedic program in San Diego County.

The normal procedure of two paramedics in an ambulance and two emergency medical technicians on an engine rendered small fire departments vulnerable if a second call for service was received.

The NCFPD model utilized one paramedic and one EMT in an ambulance with one paramedic and one EMT on an engine. The opportunity to work with a new paramedic program enticed Abbott into applying for a position with the district.

"It's been a very rewarding journey that was really exciting to get on the ground floor of the paramedic program when it started here in 1990," Abbott said.

Abbott noted that on a day-to-day basis, emergency medical services have the greatest impact on the community. "To that end we're definitely leaders in that regard," he said.

His emergency medical service expertise led Abbott to spend eight years on the Fallbrook Regional Healthcare District board, including four as board president. He opted not to seek a third term in the 2018 election due to his fire chief duties.

Because of his NCFPD employment, Abbott had to recuse himself on healthcare district votes involving the fire district. One of those was in 2016 when the rest of the healthcare district board, and subsequently all five fire district board members, approved a joint powers agreement between the two districts which will allow for joint implementation of programs or construction of facilities. "I'm proud of the JPA relationship we have with the healthcare district," Abbott said.

Abbott hopes that the relationship between the two districts will continue and grow after his retirement. "There are a lot of great things we can do with community paramedicine," he said.

Other NCFPD staff worked more directly with the Explorer Scouts interested in a fire service career. Abbott was involved with the Boy Scouts as a leader of Troop 704 for 20 years. He started as a Scout leader before his son was born and remained active in the Scouts leadership for about four years after his son was no longer in Boy Scouts.

Abbott was also a planning section chief for a federal interagency incident management team for seven years, and he was on the county's Emergency Medical Services Committee.

"I've been awfully busy these last 31 years," Abbott said.

Twenty of those years were in administration. "It's certainly more than a 40 hour a week job. I like to think of it as a calling," Abbott said.

Retirement will allow Abbott to participate in more activities with his wife, Allison. "A lot of retirement for us is just making up for lost time, no plans to work a second job in retirement," Abbott said.

The Abbotts married in October 1989. His wife was a military dependent who moved from Imperial Beach to the Tierrasanta community of San Diego in her early teens and attended Serra High School in San Diego. Their 30-year-old daughter now lives in Spring Valley and their 27-year-old son lives in Rancho Cucamonga.

Abbott was raised in Bonita and graduated from Bonita Vista High School in 1984, so he has lived in rural areas for all of his life. Abbott and his wife will be living in a condominium in Downtown San Diego after his retirement. "We're just ready for a different experience," Abbott said.

The move from Fallbrook does not reflect negatively on Abbott's sentiments about the Friendly Village. "We love it here, we love the people here, we love the community," he said.

Abbott will remain in Fallbrook Village Rotary even after he moves to San Diego. He also plans to remain in touch with those he has known through his 31 years in Fallbrook. "I plan to keep my association with each of my friends and colleagues," Abbott said. "The relationships aren't changing, just the venue."

Both of Abbott's parents are deceased, but he has other relatives outside of San Diego County as does his wife, and travel will be a significant part of Abbott's post-retirement activity. "We've got family scattered all over the U.S. that we'll definitely be seeing as part of our travels," he said.

The North County Fire Protection District conducts customer service surveys, and the community for the most part has a positive opinion about how the fire district is operating. "I'm certainly proud of how far we've come as an organization," Abbott said.

"It's been a long tenure," Abbott said. "It's been a great journey."

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

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