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ENLARGE
Former North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District Firefighter Dave Zaski.
INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — Hearing the name Dave Zaski may not ring a lot of bells with Incline's students.
Say ‘Fireman Dave,' though, and the group will know exactly who you're talking about.
Zaski, after nearly 30 years of service to the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District, most notably as the public education representative in the schools, retired May 20.
For many of those years Zaski, 51, ran the public education program, teaching Incline's students to stay low when they are in a room filled with smoke, not to play with matches (they're tools, Zaski said) and how to use the 9-1-1 system.
“My first chief had a philosophy, it's just as noble to prevent a fire as it is to suppress one, and that's something I've tried to pass on to the kids,” Zaski said.
He said he takes particular pride in seeing some of those students become firefighters, and, sometimes, his eventual supervisor, as was the case with Ryan Sommers, a battalion chief with the NLTFPD, and Brett Jacobsen, an engineer with the district.
“I was really proud of Ryan — seeing someone I've known since he was a kid come in here and promote to BC, that was a really cool moment,” Zaski.
Sommers, who didn't take Zaski's fire prevention class but remembers the firefighter as he grew up, said Zaski had a positive effect on his career.
“His mentorship helped me a lot through my career,” Sommers said. “I know that was something he liked to do and took great pride in, it was significant for me.”
Zaski, after all these years and the many students and young firefighters he's seen come and go, said he looks back on his career as “the best job in the world.”
His odyssey through the fire district started, strangely enough, just blocks away from the brand new Station 11 at Incline's 76 gas station.
In 1978 Zaski drove to Incline from his hometown of Toledo, Ohio, to live with an uncle and try a different lifestyle.
As he pulled in to buy gas, a NLTFPD staff firefighter noticed a volunteer fire sticker on the back window of Zaski's ride and said the fire district could always use a few more volunteers. The idea sounded good to Zaski, he recalls, and he signed on with the district.
To make some money while he served as a volunteer Zaski worked in the rental shop at Ski Incline, now Diamond Peak.
He was hired as a firefighter in 1980, and became involved in the public education aspect of the job right away.
“I'd always had an interest in public education, so the fire marshal at the time sent me to train in Washington, D.C., and when I got back he handed the program over to me,” Zaski said.
He took the program from a very basic fire-safety class in Incline's preschools to the elementary schools and beyond.
“We used to average about 10 juvenile fires per year,” Zaski said. “Now we'll get one only occasionally and average pretty much zero, that's something I'm proud of.”
Zaski's work with the public education programs is something which Chief Mike Brown views as an extremely valuable contribution.
“Dave was an example for the community, not only for the children, but he also established a lot of public education programs in neighboring cities and communities,” Brown said. “Dave is one of your most committed and ideal firefighters. He was always an educator and a good mentor, he instills the values of the fire service in everyone he meets.”
Eventually the program expanded to include ridealongs for teens interested in the firefighting profession.
He said over his years the technology of firefighting changed greatly, as the focus of the NLTFPD changed from structure fires only to wildland fires.
“From a wildland aspect we've changed a lot, when I started we never went to wildland fires — now it's a major focus,” Zaski said.
He said a rewarding aspect of responding to those out-of-area wildfires is the thanks firefighters receive when they successfully evacuate a neighborhood, keeping residents out of harm's way.
But, after 30 years in the business, Zaski said he wanted to retire on his own terms.
Brown said that while Zaski left, he also left a legacy in the public education field and through the many young firefighters he mentored.
“I always told myself I wanted to leave happy, healthy and on top of my game,” Zaski said.
He had visions of fishing, spending time with his family and enjoying the good retired life, Zaski said, before North Tahoe Fire Protection District in Tahoe City came calling.
The neighboring district — which covers half of the West Shore, the area between Tahoe City and Kings Beach and up to Squaw Valley Road — offered a part time job as a public information officer and overseeing a chipping crew.
“I just thought it'd be a new challenge and I was ready for it,” Zaski said. An attractive aspect of the job is that Zaski gets to mentor young firefighters again on the chipping crew. “I'm really enjoying the fact that I get to help them figure out what they want to do with their firefighting career.”
Say ‘Fireman Dave,' though, and the group will know exactly who you're talking about.
Zaski, after nearly 30 years of service to the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District, most notably as the public education representative in the schools, retired May 20.
For many of those years Zaski, 51, ran the public education program, teaching Incline's students to stay low when they are in a room filled with smoke, not to play with matches (they're tools, Zaski said) and how to use the 9-1-1 system.
“My first chief had a philosophy, it's just as noble to prevent a fire as it is to suppress one, and that's something I've tried to pass on to the kids,” Zaski said.
He said he takes particular pride in seeing some of those students become firefighters, and, sometimes, his eventual supervisor, as was the case with Ryan Sommers, a battalion chief with the NLTFPD, and Brett Jacobsen, an engineer with the district.
“I was really proud of Ryan — seeing someone I've known since he was a kid come in here and promote to BC, that was a really cool moment,” Zaski.
Sommers, who didn't take Zaski's fire prevention class but remembers the firefighter as he grew up, said Zaski had a positive effect on his career.
“His mentorship helped me a lot through my career,” Sommers said. “I know that was something he liked to do and took great pride in, it was significant for me.”
Zaski, after all these years and the many students and young firefighters he's seen come and go, said he looks back on his career as “the best job in the world.”
His odyssey through the fire district started, strangely enough, just blocks away from the brand new Station 11 at Incline's 76 gas station.
In 1978 Zaski drove to Incline from his hometown of Toledo, Ohio, to live with an uncle and try a different lifestyle.
As he pulled in to buy gas, a NLTFPD staff firefighter noticed a volunteer fire sticker on the back window of Zaski's ride and said the fire district could always use a few more volunteers. The idea sounded good to Zaski, he recalls, and he signed on with the district.
To make some money while he served as a volunteer Zaski worked in the rental shop at Ski Incline, now Diamond Peak.
He was hired as a firefighter in 1980, and became involved in the public education aspect of the job right away.
“I'd always had an interest in public education, so the fire marshal at the time sent me to train in Washington, D.C., and when I got back he handed the program over to me,” Zaski said.
He took the program from a very basic fire-safety class in Incline's preschools to the elementary schools and beyond.
“We used to average about 10 juvenile fires per year,” Zaski said. “Now we'll get one only occasionally and average pretty much zero, that's something I'm proud of.”
Zaski's work with the public education programs is something which Chief Mike Brown views as an extremely valuable contribution.
“Dave was an example for the community, not only for the children, but he also established a lot of public education programs in neighboring cities and communities,” Brown said. “Dave is one of your most committed and ideal firefighters. He was always an educator and a good mentor, he instills the values of the fire service in everyone he meets.”
Eventually the program expanded to include ridealongs for teens interested in the firefighting profession.
He said over his years the technology of firefighting changed greatly, as the focus of the NLTFPD changed from structure fires only to wildland fires.
“From a wildland aspect we've changed a lot, when I started we never went to wildland fires — now it's a major focus,” Zaski said.
He said a rewarding aspect of responding to those out-of-area wildfires is the thanks firefighters receive when they successfully evacuate a neighborhood, keeping residents out of harm's way.
But, after 30 years in the business, Zaski said he wanted to retire on his own terms.
Brown said that while Zaski left, he also left a legacy in the public education field and through the many young firefighters he mentored.
“I always told myself I wanted to leave happy, healthy and on top of my game,” Zaski said.
He had visions of fishing, spending time with his family and enjoying the good retired life, Zaski said, before North Tahoe Fire Protection District in Tahoe City came calling.
The neighboring district — which covers half of the West Shore, the area between Tahoe City and Kings Beach and up to Squaw Valley Road — offered a part time job as a public information officer and overseeing a chipping crew.
“I just thought it'd be a new challenge and I was ready for it,” Zaski said. An attractive aspect of the job is that Zaski gets to mentor young firefighters again on the chipping crew. “I'm really enjoying the fact that I get to help them figure out what they want to do with their firefighting career.”
Meet Fireman Dave
Name — Dave ZaskiAge — 51
Family — Wife Kim, sons Dave and Mark
Quotable — “It's weird seeing guys I've had in my classes, had out on ridealongs as teenagers, getting fire jobs and working with them. Ryan Sommers went from a kid I knew through those programs to being my boss these last few years.”
