Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Jim Young, a 15-year veteran of the Saratoga Fire District, has been promoted to captain.

New fire captain says that he's here for the duration

By Sarah Lombardo

Ask Saratoga Fire District engineer Jim Young about his three sons, and he beams with pride and issues a quick invitation to see pictures of Tyler, Jesse and Carson. Ask Young about the Saratoga Fire District, and he'll tell you about the place he wants to spend the rest of his career.

And with a recent promotion to captain, he's off to a good start.

Young takes over the position of captain from Buz Strothers, who served his last shift on the job April 27 but will remain on reserve staff. Young started with the department 15 years ago, when he signed on as a volunteer. He moved up from volunteer to firefighter, and then on to engineer. And like Strothers, who turned down offers from other departments over his 30-year career to stay with Saratoga, Young, 36, said he has no plans to move on from Saratoga--even though it means a commute from his home in Santa Cruz.

"This is my career right here," he said. "This is a great place to work. They gave me a job here and basically helped out with my family over the years. To leave now would almost be unfaithful."

Besides his loyalty to the department, Young said that, practically speaking, the area is a good environment in which to work. "We're not super busy, but we're busy enough that it's always a challenge. It's always rewarding," he said.

And it's the challenge, Young said, that drew him to enter the field of firefighting. "I just like a job in which every day is something different," he said. "I haven't had a boring day here in 15 years."

Young was appointed by Saratoga Fire District Chief Ernie Kraule from a pool of applicants from within the department. Kraule said the department prefers to promote from within because it ensures that the candidates understand the inner workings of the district.

Before his interview with Kraule, Young and the other applicants had to undergo a series of rigorous written, practical and oral exams--some seven different tests in all.

"It wasn't an easy testing period," Kraule said, adding that the final decision wasn't much easier.

"It was a very difficult decision," he said. "The other candidates were as skilled as Jimmy. But he rose above."

Young credits his wife, Nancy, with much of his ability to survive the testing period. "My wife's been incredible," he said, citing all the long hours studying he needed during testing.

Although Young said he has some thoughts on what he'd like to do as captain, for right now he said he plans to pick up where Strothers left off.

"He's done a hell of a job for 30 years," he said. "So I'm just not going to come in and change things."

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