— Submitted by San Juan Island Fire & Rescue

Tom and Connie arrived on the Island with their 30-foot Fisher Northeaster in tow via I-5. They left Oakland, Calif., wanting to sail around the Pacific North West and visit family who lived here. After a spell of sailing they thought it might be a good idea to have a home in the area, away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

They chose a piece of land of Egg Lake Road near the Eagle Crest fire station, sold the boat, bought the property, built their home themselves, and have been here for 30 years. Tom and Connie, however, still go back to Oakland for half of every year. They are still able to serve the public here in Friday Harbor often and well.

Connie is a retired eighth grade math teacher and Tom painted houses. They are both massage therapists and both hold licenses as holistic health practitioner educators from the state of California.

After the big storm of 1991, Tom went to the then county fire office to get a burn permit to burn all his slash and arrived home with an application to join the county fire department.  Through the years, he has received almost every award the department has to offer.

Connie signed up and worked with the American Red Cross. At that time, the  fire department didn’t have a Logistics Team (they prepare food and serve it to the firefighters during lengthy fires) so her job with the Red Cross was to procure sandwiches and coffee from local venders like King’s, the Donut Shop, and the China Pearl and deliver it to the fire scene.  When the new fire station was built on Mullis Street, Connie moved from the Red Cross to the newly formed Logistics Community in the Fire Department working out of its kitchen.  For years when the town station ran the pancake breakfast, she was the friendly cashier you’d meet when you got in line.

When Tom turned 65 years old, he retired from the job of actually fighting fires and eventually became a Tender Operator who’s job is to bring the water truck (Tender) to the fire. This leaves the firefighters free to get the engines directly to the fire without worrying about the water supply, the equipment, or running the pumps. These men and women are people who have come up in the ranks and know what there is to know about fire fighting but have reached the age of retirement. It keeps them active and needed in the department.

Words of wisdom from Tom:  “Its not for everyone.  You have to be able to change tracks in the middle of everything.  You have to be able to think outside of the box all the time.  Yes, we know how to do everything but every time we go to do it, we’re in a different place, and in different terrain, with a different group of people so you have to be flexible and resilient.

You know, it is a wonderful job because you get to be a hero and you don’t have to clean up the mess – just put out the fire and leave the rest to the owners.”

Connie says that: “What you need to do is talk to your significant other because your significant other is going to be your silent partner with the fire department. Your partner is going to have to deal with things like dinner at 6 every Monday because drill is happening, or waking up to an alarm activation page three nights in a row at 3 a.m. If you are thinking of joining the fire department you don’t want things like this to be a surprise to your partner. Working on logistics keeps me well informed about the progress of fires that Tom is helping to fight, which is a plus for me.”

Team Odegard has been fighting Island fires and feeding firefighters for 30 plus years! Thank you so much and keep up the good work.

San Juan Island Fire and Rescue welcomes all interested men and women ages 16 years and above to drop by the Mullis Street Station and make an appointment to see what we are all about. Look online at www.sjifire.org for lots of good information. Or, you could view our Facebook page: San Juan Island Fire and Rescue. Our phone number is 378-5334. We would like to talk with you.