Volunteer Firefighter Helps Put Out Blazes

Dick Stutsman, a volunteer firefighter for 35 years and a San Anselmo Flood Committee member since its inception in 2006, has been named a Silver Award winner.

It will be presented at the town’s 7 p.m. council meeting Tuesday, Nov. 15.

The Quality of Life Commission voted unanimously, at a recent session, to commend Stutsman for a tenure with the that’s outlasted all other volunteers.

“For three years we’ve been honoring ‘unsung heroes,’ individuals who’ve served the community without expectation of recognition or reward,” says Woody Weingarten, commission chair, “but this is the first time we’ve honored someone who’s an unsung hero and a real one.”  

Stutsman, who wears a pager and is on call 24/7, in April 2008 rescued Judy Browne, one of his neighbors, from a $200,000 blaze.

He also saved her three dogs.

He’s modest about it, though. “It’s just part of the job, what we train to do,” he says. “I don’t think of myself as a hero.”

His toughest fire was a different one, “several months ago, right up the street from where I live. It was real hot and difficult to make an entrance.”

Regarding the inherent dangers of firefighting, he contends his “fellow firefighters help minimize them.”

The 61-year-old semi-retired engineering consultant has lived in San Anselmo since 1975. A year after he arrived, he “was looking to give something back to the town” and decided to become a volunteer policeman.

He discovered that buying the equipment would cost him $1,000 while the Fire Department paid for all equipment and training.

The choice was a no-brainer, and the rest, as they say, is history.

“I went through the same training as the paid guys do,” he remembers. That included 40 intense hours, followed by a yearlong exercise in driving a fire truck. Volunteers must also learn, and be tested on, “30 different types of evolution” — that is, how to lay various sizes of hose.

In addition, firemen drill for two to three hours every Wednesday night, he says, and get extra training “every time there’s a new federal or state law about safety.”

They’re also periodically re-tested on first-aid and CPR.

The department usually has 13 or 14 volunteers on its roster. “Many are hired as professionals, with our department or others — more than 50 percent,” Stutsman says.   

But he’s content with his volunteer status, and with the other firefighters. “We’re all like brothers,” he says. “We each cover each other’s back.”

Still, the department has had its share of tragedies. “People died during the flood,” he recollects, “and people have died in medical-aid calls.”

The opposite side of that coin, he notes, is the laughter that springs from the frequent practical jokes firefighters play on one another. He declines to cite any examples, however. 

Stutsman doesn’t limit his volunteerism to firefighting.

He’s on the County Technical Advisory Committee for flood protection, and chairs the Marin Chapter of Ducks Unlimited, the top fundraising organization in the world for waterfowl. He’s also chaired and co-chaired various groups for the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Regarding San Anselmo’s flooding, he says “we’ve .”

He calls the flood committee “impressive,” and says the county’s committee “has built on our ideas.”

Treasurer of the San Anselmo Firefighters Club, Stutsman always enjoys hanging around the firehouse, doing so on a daily basis whenever possible. “We spend lots of time working, finishing reports, watching TV, playing cards — everything you’d do at home.”

His greatest satisfaction? “Being rewarded by knowing we’re making the place safer for the people.”

He will become the 20th winner of the Silver Award. That and the more environmentally oriented Green Awards are handed out in alternate months. Nominations for either can be e-mailed to voodee@sbcglobal.net or townclerk@townofsananselmo.org — or mailed or hand-delivered to the Quality of Life Commission c/o the Town of San Anselmo, 525 San Anselmo Ave.