By Khalida Sarwari
The similarities between firefighting and sports aren’t immediately apparent, but Jim Young, a recently retired Santa Clara County Fire District battalion chief, can easily draw analogies between the two professions. At the end of his career, Young said he saw himself as a middle relief pitcher whose job sometimes calls for stepping aside and letting the “relievers” take over.
And that’s what the 53-year-old Young did on Dec. 22. After 31 years, Young said it was time to hang up his helmet to allow some of the younger talent to shine.
“Santa Clara County Fire has a lot of real good talented young battalion chiefs coming up, and it’s a good time to let those guys step up and run the department,” said Young. “The department’s in real good hands now, so it’s a good time for me to step aside.”
Though he’s been working out of the Los Gatos station for the last six years, it is the Saratoga Fire District where Young began his career as a volunteer in 1983 and where he spent 25 years. In 2008, Young was relocated to Los Gatos after Saratoga began a new contract for fire prevention services with the Santa Clara County Fire Department, under which all employees became county personnel.
After climbing the ranks–serving as student firefighter, engineer and captain–Young was promoted to battalion chief in 2010 and was assigned to the Los Gatos station, where he spent the last 18 months of his career supervising not just Los Gatos, but also the Los Altos and Seven Springs stations. As battalion chief, Young supervised large-scale events and emergencies and also handled administrative tasks, such as scheduling employees and organizing training events.
Two memories are clearest in Young’s mind. The first is the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, which significantly impacted the communities of Saratoga and Los Gatos. At the time he was working as an engineer for the Saratoga Fire District and remembers how the disaster brought communities together.
The second memory that Young will carry with him is of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Young was on duty that morning and said it was a turning point for him because for the first time he realized just how vulnerable firefighters really are. While they put their lives on the line every time they are called to respond to a house fire or rescue, 9-11 really drove home the reality of the risks that emergency responders take.
“It made everything seem much more serious,” he said. “We realize we could be killed at any time doing it, but for the most part we make it, and when those guys didn’t make it … that just made it really real.”
Young credits his long career to his love for the job and the people he has worked with.
“I surrounded myself with good people, and they made me look good,” he said. “That’s why I survived and didn’t get hurt. We’ve been really lucky at Saratoga.”
In fact, his colleagues are the part of the job that Young said he’ll miss the most, although he doesn’t intend on straying too far from them.
“It’s like family,” he said. “It’s really like leaving a family. But I’m still going to stay in touch with them because we’re all good friends.”
Now that he’s retired, Young said he would devote his time to pursuing his hobbies, which include fishing, surfing and camping, and spending more time with his three college-age sons.
“I plan on helping my three boys with their careers,” Young said. “I plan to be around for them. I missed a lot of birthdays and Christmases, so I plan on being there more than I was when they were growing up.”
He said he’s also planning to address the repairs and other things around the house that he’s neglected over the last 30 years and do some traveling. His first stop: Alaska.
Young will be replaced by incoming battalion chief Dennis Lollie.
