Retiring ECFR fire chief reflects on 50-year career

To East County Fire and Rescue (ECFR) Fire Chief Ed Hartin, serving as a firefighter has been more than just a job. It’s been a way of life and a calling that began when Hartin was a young child growing up in a firehouse with his father.

“(I love that you) get to make a difference in people’s lives,” Hartin said. “Usually, when they call 911, it’s not because they’re having a great day. And we get to make a difference for them. In some cases, we make a difference for them before they call 911, and that’s even better. It’s challenging work. It’s not something that everybody would want to do. I kind of came by it naturally because my dad did the same job, although he didn’t do it for quite as long as I did.”

On April 23, 2023, Hartin celebrated the 50th anniversary of the day he began his firefighting career. Soon after, even though his passion for the job remains as strong as ever, Hartin decided that maybe 50 years is enough.

On Jan. 15, Hartin will retire from his position leading the ECFR district that protects areas north of Camas-Washougal.

In early December 2024, the ECFR Board of Commissioners named Steven Black as Hartin’s successor. Hartin has agreed to stay on as Black’s deputy fire chief until late February 2025, and will assist the fire district in its search for a permanent second-in-command.

“Chief Hartin is an exceptional fire chief,” said ECFR Board Chair Joshua Seeds. “He is a firefighter to his core, the hardest worker around, a caring and fair person, and a scholar. He leads by example and is not afraid to face issues head-on. We now have better training, better financial and material planning, and better labor relations in place. We had some real vulnerabilities of which the Board was unaware, and he rooted them out, fixed what could be done immediately, and made a plan for the rest. He is irreplaceable, but ECFR and the residents we serve are much better off for his tenure in ways most would never know.”

Hartin intended to retire in 2022, when he stepped down from his fire chief position Central Whidbey Island Fire and Rescue in Coupeville, Washington.

“After thinking about it for about two weeks, I was like, ‘I don’t think I’m done having fun yet,’” Hartin said. “The job was open here, and I looked into it and said, ‘There’s a number of significant challenges, but it’s interesting work, things that I would really like to take on.’ So I came here, and I’m really glad that I did. My goal when I came here was to have fun and to make a difference. I definitely have had fun, and the Board (members) have told me that I’ve made a difference.”

Seeds said Hartin has helped create a positive labor relations climate, increase staffing, and formulate a long-term financial plan for ECFR, which passed a levy lid lift in 2024, to fund four additional full-time firefighters and save money to purchase two engines and two water tenders.

“Those are pretty significant accomplishments,” Hartin said. “I think that the future (for ECFR) looks pretty good. We have a solid plan, which lays out the things that are going to need to happen over the next several years. I think Steve’s a good choice to carry the organization forward. He’s going to continue down the path. He gets to steer the bus, but we’ve got a pretty well-defined road for some of the big things that the board wants to see done.”

Hartin began his career at age 19, in his home state of Massachusetts, working as a firefighter and eventually as a fire captain before spending four years as a fire chief in Ashby, Massachusetts. He then worked for the National Fire Academy in Maryland, and eventually joined the private sector, leading fire brigade and hazardous materials training in the petrochemical industry in the Caribbean.

Hartin eventually returned to fire service, spending 14 years in Gresham, Oregon, filling various positions within the city’s fire department before being named fire chief at Central Whidbey Fire and Rescue on Whidbey Island northwest of Seattle, in 2009.

“The people that I have worked with have gone on to do really great things,” Hartin said. “I think that being able to help people grow in their work and develop their capabilities, and see them go on to (have) success, that’s an enduring legacy.”

During his career, Hartin contributed to the developments of fire behavior and firefighting best-practices in several ways. He is an emeritus member of the advisory board of the Illinois-based Underwriters Laboratories Institute’s Fire Safety Research Institute, which advances fire-safety knowledge to address the world’s unresolved fire safety risks and emerging dangers; co-authored “3D Firefighting: Training, Techniques and Tactics,” a book about compartment fire behavior and firefighting operations; contributed to two Fire Service Training Association books; and has published numerous articles in fire service publications.

Hartin has led training on fire behavior, firefighting tactics, and incident response throughout Asia, Europe, North America and South America.

“My goal is to not disappear from the face of the Earth from the fire service perspective. I’ve got some work lined up to do some writing for a fire service organization, and I’m going to do some training and things like that. I’m not going to completely lose my connection with the work,” Hartin said. “I’ve enjoyed the people that I’ve worked with over the course of my career. Being able to help people develop their skills and do good work and grow, that’s been a lot of fun. Hopefully I’ll be able to continue to do that … as I continue into the next chapter.”

Hartin said he has purposely made no real plans for the first six months of this “new chapter” of life.

“(My wife and I) are going to spend two months wandering around the Northwest in our motorhome,” he said. “We may take one of those little game-spinners and put the points of the compass on it, and when we decide we’re tired of being where we are, we’ll give it a spin, and we’ll go in that direction and see what we can find. The two of us and our German Shepherd will be out there wandering around and seeing what’s out there in Oregon and Washington.

Hartin imagines he and his wife will eventually drop their motorhome off on Whidbey Island “where it lives,” and make their way back to Washougal.

“We’ll kind of regroup and say, ‘OK, what do we want to do next?’” Hartin said. “That’s our plan for the first six months, just kind of get used to not having to be someplace at a particular time. We’ll see how that goes, and then, once we get done with that, we can decide what we want to do next in our lives.”