Stan Simi still responds to fires when they get big enough, and despite being 89 years old, he sees no reason to stop any time in the immediate future.
“The way it is now, it is pretty easy for me,” said Simi, who has been chief of the River Delta Fire Protection District since 2009. “I have people doing everything that needs to be done . . . and I just have to worry about making sure we have enough revenue and the equipment is right and things like that.”
But if the fire becomes a two-alarm bell, Simi returns to his roots as a firefighter.
“Sometimes I take command, sometimes I just help,” Simi said. Simi recently returned to help his old department, handling some administrative duties for the Montezuma Fire Protection District after Chief Joe Rosewall had been dismissed July 26.