Tahoe Douglas Fire Chief retiring after 36 years of service

Engineer test. Check. Hire an Assistant Chief. Check. Negotiate new three year contract with union. Check. Retire ....Almost check.

The board on the wall in Tahoe Douglas Fire Chief Ben Sharit's office has a list of to-dos, things he had to accomplish before he could retire. On Thursday, June 30, he will be able to check them all off.

Ben Sharit, the Chief since 2011, will leave his post after being in the EMT, paramedic, firefighter business since 1980.

The Castro Valley, Calif., native started off his career as an EMT in Oakland in 1980. When fire based ambulance services were seen as the future for his profession, Sharit went to paramedic school in Southern California, returning north to work in Piedmont as a firefighter/paramedic. At that time, Alameda County was the first fire department in the state to have such a service.

His Tahoe career started on April 1, 1985 when he got hired by Tahoe Douglas Fire. From the beginning as a firefighter/paramedic, he moved up the ladder, fire ladder that is, to Captain in 1999, Battalion Chief in 2006, and then to his current position in 2011.

Reflecting on his career, while sitting behind his final piles of paperwork, Sharit said it feels rather surreal to have his retirement in just a couple of days.

When asked what he thought his biggest accomplishment was while with the department, Sharit said it was coming out of the recession with fire services intact.

In 2008, Tahoe Douglas Fire went down to a daily staff of 10 when they wanted 14. They had to close a station, the one at Zephyr Cove to weather the financial firestorm, but he is proud of how they recovered. They faced a $1.6 million shortfall, much of which was absorbed by retirements. The problem came when they could hire, and with all of the older, experienced employees gone, they had to hire 12 new firefighters at one time and reopen the Zephyr Cove station, something tough for a small department.

"It was a great team effort," said Sharit. "We trained them all and got them ready in a short time."

He said most departments generally have different generations from seasoned down to rookies. "We have a very young department," said Sharit. "They'd done a great job!"

Sharit just finished contract negotiations with their fire union, and he said both sides are happy. Being the district's union vice-president for ten years before tackling upper management, Sharit said it helped the process go smoothly. In fact, several of the past chiefs for Tahoe Douglas Fire were all the union's leadership team.

Friday, July 1 will be his first day of retirement, and when asked what he'll be doing, the answer was a quick one, "spending time with family."

Ben and his wife Kathy, who retired from Barton Health five years ago, will then head off to Maui for a two-week stay, one he won't have to rush back to work from. He said they'll enjoy some time on their houseboat on Lake Shasta as well as look south and become snow-birds during the winters.

But first, there is a retirement party to have.

The community that knows Ben Sharit is invited to his retirement party on Thursday, June 30 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Harvey's Convention Center.