After 44 years in the fire service — 20 as Olympia fire chief — Larry Dibble, 65, will call it a career at the end of the month.
He is the longest serving fire chief in the city’s history. The next fire chief will be current deputy fire chief Greg Wright. But Wright is set to retire, too, so he expects to serve 18 months in that role before a new chief is appointed by the Olympia city manager.
Dibble was born in Olympia, raised in Tumwater, attended Tumwater High School and took a two-year fire program at what would later become Bates Technical College in Tacoma. His father, a foreman in the Olympia brewery welding department, volunteered as a firefighter in Tumwater.