tThree years remain on his term

“What’s a fire commissioner?” was Harvey Olsan’s response during a chance encounter more than 18 years ago when he was asked to fill a vacancy on the board.

At the time, the Eastsound Fire Station was in the building now known as Roses Café, and the fire department received only 250 emergency calls per year.

When he was offered the position, Olsan had been living on Orcas for only four months. He asked to review half a year of commission meeting minutes to help him make up his mind.

“I liked the idea,” Olsan said. “I believe the fire department is the last bastion of volunteerism in the United States. I read through the meeting minutes and it looked pretty benign. Like it was mostly governence issues such as oversight and budget review.”

Within months of accepting the position, he was involved in a personnel issue that saw the dismissal of the fire chief. Since then, he has fought small and large fires of public opinion, growing pains and budget debates.

The 24 hour medical debate and the recent division chief discussion have been some of the more contentious issues.

“Things don’t always go smoothly, but when we ran into our biggest challenges from the community was when we are making big changes,” Olsan said. “That’s to be expected. People often cannot see the reason for change.”

At the fire commissioners meeting, held in the new state-of-the-art fire station on North Beach Road, on Feb. 10 the other commissioners reluctantly accepted Olsan’s resignation effective March 31.

“I believe there are times when change can be good for all concerned, and I believe that time is now,” Olsan wrote in his letter of resignation.

He is proud of his accomplishments while on the commission. He says the successes have included the 1999 levy lid lift that led to the new Eastsound fire station, the Deer Harbor station and the replacement of old and outdated equipment.

He arranged for the fire department volunteers to use phones in a local business office and make calls to nearly every person on Orcas to find support for the levy. He believes the volunteer efforts and the volunteer package that Chief Gary Bennett created were responsible for the levy passing the year after the voters first turned it down.

He also cited the fire department strategic planning meetings, which started in 2004 and where Olsan headed the communications committee, the hiring of Chief Mike Harris and the new mini pumpers as successes.

Through the communication committee he was able to get an interactive website for the department, community mailings and overall better internal and external communication.

“Internally we had been a house somewhat divided,” Olsan said. “There were different communications and leadership styles and the EMS people hung out with the other EMS staff and the same with the firefighters. Now, we encourage cross-training and all new recruits are being trained on fire and EMS. It’s a more professional and unified department.”

It was while he was visiting his son in Japan that he saw a smaller fire truck.

“I am not a firefighter, but when I saw the smaller engines I brought a photograph back, “he said. “I said, ‘this is what we need for Buck Mountain and Mount Woolard and a lot of other areas. This fire truck could access those tight curvy mountain roads.’”

Orcas Island Fire and Rescue will have new fast attack mini pumpers this summer.

He also believes having Dr. Mike Sullivan on board as the the department’s medical professional was a great accomplishment.

“He is so highly respected and such a good teacher that we are very fortunate to have him,” Olsan said.

Ultimately, he says he has no regrets. There is nothing he feels that he left undone.

But he would like to see improvements to the public process itself, “Not just at Fire Commissioner’s meetings but at all the public meetings I would like to see a little more civility and a little more patience,” Olsan says. “I think we all want the best for Orcas.”

tThree years remain on his term

“What’s a fire commissioner?” was Harvey Olsan’s response during a chance encounter more than 18 years ago when he was asked to fill a vacancy on the board.

At the time, the Eastsound Fire Station was in the building now known as Roses Café, and the fire department received only 250 emergency calls per year.

When he was offered the position, Olsan had been living on Orcas for only four months. He asked to review half a year of commission meeting minutes to help him make up his mind.

“I liked the idea,” Olsan said. “I believe the fire department is the last bastion of volunteerism in the United States. I read through the meeting minutes and it looked pretty benign. Like it was mostly governence issues such as oversight and budget review.”

Within months of accepting the position, he was involved in a personnel issue that saw the dismissal of the fire chief. Since then, he has fought small and large fires of public opinion, growing pains and budget debates.

The 24 hour medical debate and the recent division chief discussion have been some of the more contentious issues.

“Things don’t always go smoothly, but when we ran into our biggest challenges from the community was when we are making big changes,” Olsan said. “That’s to be expected. People often cannot see the reason for change.”

At the fire commissioners meeting, held in the new state-of-the-art fire station on North Beach Road, on Feb. 10 the other commissioners reluctantly accepted Olsan’s resignation effective March 31.

“I believe there are times when change can be good for all concerned, and I believe that time is now,” Olsan wrote in his letter of resignation.

He is proud of his accomplishments while on the commission. He says the successes have included the 1999 levy lid lift that led to the new Eastsound fire station, the Deer Harbor station and the replacement of old and outdated equipment.

He arranged for the fire department volunteers to use phones in a local business office and make calls to nearly every person on Orcas to find support for the levy. He believes the volunteer efforts and the volunteer package that Chief Gary Bennett created were responsible for the levy passing the year after the voters first turned it down.

He also cited the fire department strategic planning meetings, which started in 2004 and where Olsan headed the communications committee, the hiring of Chief Mike Harris and the new mini pumpers as successes.

Through the communication committee he was able to get an interactive website for the department, community mailings and overall better internal and external communication.

“Internally we had been a house somewhat divided,” Olsan said. “There were different communications and leadership styles and the EMS people hung out with the other EMS staff and the same with the firefighters. Now, we encourage cross-training and all new recruits are being trained on fire and EMS. It’s a more professional and unified department.”

It was while he was visiting his son in Japan that he saw a smaller fire truck.

“I am not a firefighter, but when I saw the smaller engines I brought a photograph back, “he said. “I said, ‘this is what we need for Buck Mountain and Mount Woolard and a lot of other areas. This fire truck could access those tight curvy mountain roads.’”

Orcas Island Fire and Rescue will have new fast attack mini pumpers this summer.

He also believes having Dr. Mike Sullivan on board as the the department’s medical professional was a great accomplishment.

“He is so highly respected and such a good teacher that we are very fortunate to have him,” Olsan said.

Ultimately, he says he has no regrets. There is nothing he feels that he left undone.

But he would like to see improvements to the public process itself, “Not just at Fire Commissioner’s meetings but at all the public meetings I would like to see a little more civility and a little more patience,” Olsan says. “I think we all want the best for Orcas.”