[Vision2020] Calling it a career after 47 years

[Moscow Cares]

Courtesy of today’s (February 19, 2018) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

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Calling it a career after 47 years
One of Moscow Volunteer Fire Department's longest serving firefighters retires

By Katie Short, Daily News staff writer

There may not a man alive who knows more about the history and traditions of the Moscow Volunteer Fire Department than Ken Robinson.

It comes with having served nearly five decades with the unit.

Robinson, after 47 years, announced his retirement from the department Feb. 10 during the MVFD's annual crab feed at Fire Station One on Main Street in Moscow.

The now 66-year-old said he joined the fire department in 1971 after spending a significant amount of time hunting and fishing with the late Ron Purnell and Jerry Musick, who were already firefighters with the department.

Robinson began his career with Company Six, and he also served with the rural department until 2011. In his 47 years of public service, he worked under six different chiefs and was the first assistant chief during the 1990s.

"I would do the whole thing over again," Robinson said. "You're either a firefighter or you're not. It's in your blood, in your soul, and if you haven't got it, you haven't got it."

He said the camaraderie among those who dedicate a large part of their lives to public service and trying to save others is what he has enjoyed the most.

Moscow residents have Robinson to thank for the ambulance company they are familiar with and rely on heavily today. In the early '70s when Robinson started volunteering with the department it was equipped with an ambulance but there was no designated company, and volunteers wore white coveralls with a red spray painted cross and the words "first aid" written on the back.

"We were a loosely organized group," he said.

Robinson saw the need for a designated ambulance company because of the increasing number of medical calls, so he set out to make them a fully recognized part of the department.

Robinson ultimately spent nearly 20 years with the ambulance company, before retiring from it in the early 1990s.

He was also one of the founding members of the rescue company that extradites people from traffic accidents.

Robinson said when he started with the fire department, a large majority of the calls were to accidents on the Moscow-Pullman Highway. At that time, the drinking age was 21 in Washington, but only 19 in Idaho, making Moscow an attractive destination for young Washington State University students.

"We were pretty busy with car wrecks back then," Robinson said.

Over time, the rescue company has grown from only having a box of tools to now having its own truck. Robinson said there are not many roads or corners along the highway that he can pass without thinking about an accident he responded to at that location.

Robinson's influence on the history of Idaho's fire departments reaches beyond the MVFD and Latah County. He said the Idaho Fire Chief's Association was founded in his motel room in Boise in June of 1980 during the state's annual fire school.

Robinson and his wife, Carol, said the residency program - in which volunteer students from the University of Idaho live at the station - has made an incredible impact on their own lives. Robinson said he made particularly strong connections with residents who enjoyed hunting.

"I have a walk-in freezer, meat cutting table and sausage making stuff, so they would bring their (deer) out and hang it, and I would help them cut it. It was a good way to get to know everyone" he said.

Robinson said his son, Scott, went through the resident program while he was attending the University of Idaho and followed in his father's fire fighting footsteps. His son went on to be a reserve officer with the Pullman Fire Department and now works for the city of Coeur d'Alene Fire Department. Robinson said his son is the trainer and handler for the city's K-9 unit that helps find people who are trapped under debris in collapsed structures.

For the 15 year anniversary of 9/11, Robinson and his son traveled to New York City and to the Duane Street Station, which is only five blocks from Ground Zero. The father and son duo participated in a private ceremony in which firefighters from all over the country gathered to remember those who ran toward the danger in order to save the lives of others.

Robinson said although "old age is creeping up on him" and preventing him from continuing to serve with the MVFD, he plans to remain in Moscow and stop by the fire station for a cup of coffee on occasion.

Robinson said his advice for any new firefighter is to "wear their equipment and just keep looking up."

Although he can no longer run into burning buildings, Robinson is not leaving fire behind completely. He said he will most likely continue working with Northwest Management, which conducts controlled burns during the spring and fall to reduce wildfires.

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Ken Robinson is retiring from the Moscow Volunteer Fire Department after 47 years.

http://www.moscowcares.com/Photos/DNews/MPDN_021918_Ken_Robinson.jpg

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Thank you, Mr. Robinson, for a job well done.

Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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