As the flames at the Vashon Energy fire quieted last month, a group of firefighters took a break on the side of the road and — removing their masks — revealed one man who has served longer than any of the others: Mike Kirk, a volunteer firefighter for 50 years.

Kirk, who many islanders know as a former teacher and longtime principal at McMurray Middle School, arrived quickly to the fire that Friday afternoon in December. He had been substitute teaching at the high school when the call came in, black smoke visible and rising in the sky. He knew at the time that he would be needed, and his hasty exit that day was the latest in Kirk’s long history of needing to leave a paying job for more pressing duties as a volunteer.

Recalling that day, Principal Danny Rock said he left the high school to see what was on fire, and just minutes later Kirk ran up with his red gear bag. He asked Kirk which teacher he was working for, and although Kirk responded, Rock said he stayed focused on the tasks at hand, slipping his bunker gear on over his dress pants and shirt, transforming from teacher to firefighter in minutes.

“Mike kept his focus on saving any lives in danger — not to mention the significant danger posed by the reserve and main propane tanks blowing up,” Rock recalled.

In the half century Kirk has served with Vashon Island Fire & Rescue (VIFR), he has responded to countless fires, illnesses and injuries, and those who have worked with him are quick to praise his decades of contributions.

“He is an outstanding gentleman. He is a giant on the island,” said Chief Charlie Krimmert. “Whose life hasn’t he touched in the last 70 years?”

Kirk, who will turn 75 this week, applied to volunteer with the department on Jan. 15, 1967. His application — a simple one-page form — is still on file in the district office and reveals he knew how to swim, had not earned a Red Cross First Aid card and had advanced training in education. With that, listing three local references and agreeing to attend at least half the training drills, he entered the fire service — work he describes as exhilarating and filled with camaraderie — and work that garners nearly universal respect.

“Anywhere in the world you go, you can say you are a firefighter, and you are immediately welcome,” he said. “In the fire service, there is humor and whatnot that exists — a lot of joking, feigned one upmanship, competition. … But when it’s business, then everyone is looking out for each other.”

Last month, Kirk recalled his early years with the department. When he applied, he had just begun working as a teacher at the old Burton School, where he taught seventh- and eighth-grade social studies and language arts.

“I would have time, especially in the summer, and I thought, ‘Well, let’s give her a try,’” he said.

The department was made up only of volunteers — some 50 men — and if a call came in, the siren on what is now the training center would announce it, sounding once for an aid call and twice for a fire. Many of the businesses in town had volunteers who dropped what they were doing when needed.

“The barber and bank manager, when the siren went off, we got the calls covered,” he said.

For the firemen outside of the siren’s range, the captains’ wives would phone and alert them. A perk at the time, Kirk added, was that volunteer firefighters received priority for private phone lines when party lines were still prevalent.

Firefighting training occurred on Monday nights, and the men learned all about the equipment, how to set the pump and work as a team.

“It was us or no one,” he added.

Emergency medical education consisted of eight hours of first aid training annually.

“You knew CPR. That was the expectation within fire districts and the service that the public knew you could provide for them,” he said. “You could never save anyone, but you know we tried.”

Firefighter Ben Davidson — who has known Kirk since his own elementary school days, when as principal Kirk would send home disciplinary notes about young Ben’s behavior — says Kirk recalls every detail from his decades on the island.Indeed, Kirk seems able to serve as the department’s de facto historian, recalling large events and small details from over the years.

In the 1960s, he said, the Firemen’s Association ran the aid cars, dispatched when emergencies arose.

“We were running a ’67 Cadillac. Red and white. A beautiful machine,” he said.

In the 1970s, King County provided funds to purchase larger box-top aid cars, and the association turned the aid service over to the fire district.

“That was a big change, the fire district assuming the aid car business and getting funds for it,” he recalled.

In 1969, women joined the fire department, after one afternoon when there were not enough volunteers to fight a house fire in Tahlequah. Women were brought on as drivers, not as firefighters, and their limited role soon expanded.

“They were fully capable of doing everything,” he added, his tone dismissing the possibility of anything less. In fact, his wife Patti was among the volunteers, and she went on to serve with the district for 34 years. One of their Christmas cards shows them in full bunker gear, smiling wide, while a house is fully engulfed in flames behind them.

While that blaze was a training exercise, Kirk also recalls events that tested all the firefighters, including the night of the Vashon Pharmacy fire in 1977.

“We were thinking that all the west side businesses were going to go, right to The Hardware Store,” he said.

The pharmacy was next to Bud’s Auto Supply, and the fire is believed to have started on the loading dock of that business. Fire hydrants did not exist in town yet, Kirk said, and the closest standpipe to draw water from was broken. Firefighters resorted to pumping water out of a concrete vault in the basement of K2 to contain the blaze. Kirk also recalls entering The Hardware Store and removing bullets and shotgun shells in large garbage cans to keep them from exploding. In the end, the fire did not go beyond the pharmacy’s north wall.

“The same brick wall that stopped the fire in 1933 stopped it at that fire,” he said.

Kirk recalls quieter moments as well, those that come with providing aid on people’s most difficult days in a small community.

“There are times, oh my word, when you know the person, and you know it’s going to be hard. There are real difficult ones when you want someone else to take the lead,” he said.

But it’s in these calls, firefighter Jason Everett says, that Kirk’s intimate knowledge of this community and the people in it shows itself.

“Mike does not forget anything. He remembers it in a loving way. He remembers those moments that are really important,” he said.

On CPR calls, Everett added, Kirk will make sure the family is well taken care of.

“Often times, Mike has known these people for 40 or 50 years. He will go up to the wife or husband and have a deep, meaningful conversation at this moment in their life that is unbelievably hard,” he said. “He is able to comfort them in a way few people can.”

Much is required of firefighters in their work, including high levels of physical fitness and strength, and many people in the department point to Kirk’s fitness as legendary. Firefighter Davidson, who has become friends with Kirk since the days of the disciplinary notes, claims Kirk does not own workout clothes, but that does not deter him.

“He’ll be running down the highway in his slacks,” he said. “You’ll find him charging all over the island.”

Kirk disputed Davidson’s claim with a hearty laugh, but regardless of his sartorial choices, nearly everyone at VIFR who talks about Kirk mentions his participation in the annual firefighter stair climb at Seattle’s Columbia Center. Firefighters from all over compete in full gear and climb 69 flights of stairs to raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Paramedic Andy John-son has participated in the event with Kirk, including most recently in 2015.

“He won his age class because he was the only one in it,” Johnson said. “He beat a lot of the guys on our team.”

The team that year included 11 VIFR staff and volunteers. Johnson had a personal best time and came in first from Vashon while Kirk came in fourth for the island crew, telling Johnson, “I’m working to catch up with you, and watch out.”

“I beat him on raw time,” Johnson said. “But on even the most stingy of age adjustments, he kicks my ass.”

Kirk and Johnson are training for this year’s stair climb on March 12, setting the stage for a rematch; Kirk recently provided some training tips he abides by: “Start practicing early, and practice under the most adverse conditions there are going to be.”

This year will be his seventh climb, and he says he continues to participate for a few reasons.

“It is a good cause. That is the main one, and locally, competing with these young guys,” he said, clearly relishing that competition.

While most of Kirk’s time with VIFR has been as a volunteer, he has held paid positions as well, including the top positions of chief and assistant chief, as well as interim training officer and project manager.

Kirk’s love for the fire service is evident, but he points to the lack of island volunteers — now only a handful who are both firefighters and emergency medical technicians — as a reason he remains in the ranks. The district’s resources are stretched thin, he said, noting that VIFR fought the Vashon Energy fire with just 10 firefighters and no more than 20 total VIFR respondents. Another large fire or a minor school bus accident could tax the district’s resources tremendously. And even the most ordinary of occurrences, such as three calls coming in at the same time, can present challenges for the small department.

“That causes me to want to contribute while I am capable,” he said. “I will retire eventually but not yet.”

Volunteer

Vashon Island Fire & Rescue welcomes volunteers as fire fighters, emergency medical technicians and support personnel. Training is provided, and 50-year commitments are not required. For more information, contact Chief Charlie Krimmert at 463-2405 or ckrimmert@vifr.org.