At long last, Luke Carpenter is pager-less and sleeping in.

Until about 4:30 a.m., even.

That’s pretty late by his standards, though one of his immediate goals is, understandably, to improve that situation. But relaxation takes practice and while he’s an expert at many things, the ability to chill out remains a glaring omission on the man’s otherwise impressive curriculum vitae.

The longtime Bainbridge Island Fire Department assistant chief and fire marshal celebrated his imminent retirement this week (his last official day on the job is May 1, though his final day at work was April 9), capping a 29-year career in the fire service which saw him battling blazes on both the East and West coasts and rising from the volunteer ranks to become a renowned authority figure.

“His contributions, not only to the department but also to the community, go beyond what most of us would think we can do in a career of almost 30 years,” said BIFD Chief Hank Teran at Carpenter’s retirement ceremony Wednesday, April 25 at Station 23 on Phelps Road. “His involvement in all areas of the community has just been outstanding.”

A move west

Carpenter began his career in the fire service in Dennis, Massachusetts in 1987. He moved to Bainbridge in 1989 and joined the island department as a volunteer, before being hired in Seattle, where he worked primarily in West Seattle’s Station 5 on the fire boat.

In 2003, he was hired by the BIFD and served as assistant chief of operations until 2011, when he was appointed to the head of the department’s Fire Prevention Division, where he has served as fire marshal for the past seven years.

During his tenure in the role, Teran said, Carpenter has been instrumental in developing numerous community risk reduction programs, developed two new National Fire Protection Association standards for marine firefighting, co-authored an International Fire Service Training Association manual and served as the training section chief for regional maritime terrorism exercises.

In 2008, Carpenter authored a Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response (SAFER) grant request, which netted $650,000 for the department’s volunteer recruitment and retention efforts.

Shifting landscape

Ahead of him now are a very different set of goals.

Carpenter said he and his fiancé are remodeling a house on the island and intend to stay in the area.

“What have I been up to? Just learning to relax,” Carpenter said. “I have no shortage of projects, but it has been an adjustment to not carry a pager for the first time in 28 years and not have any notification of what’s going on.

“The weird part is knowing it’s Wednesday and I can go to the dump today,” he added. “Not having that 48 hours of Saturday and Sunday when you have to get done all the stuff you couldn’t get done during the week; that’s actually been the nice thing. I made two dump runs today; we’re finishing up a remodel on a house, we’ve got landscaping to do and all that other stuff, so it’s great.”

Bainbridge Island Police Department Sgt. Trevor Ziemba spoke at the ceremony, on behalf of the police and island school district, and presented Carpenter with an Outstanding Civic Service Award in honor of his many years of service. The award was given specifically for Carpenter’s work in the field of hazardous response, and assistance in designing and implementing a widely praised campus shooting outreach and response program.

“The award narrative speaks of his dedication to the schools and how he fostered a new relationship, and built a relationship, between us and the [fire] department,” Ziemba said. “The Outstanding Civic Service Award is one of the highest honors that we can give to non-uniformed personnel and we are honored to give that to you.”

Setting the standard

Also delivering remarks at the ceremony were Amber Richards, the city of Bainbridge Island’s emergency management coordinator, who worked closely with Carpenter; BIFD Commissioner Scott Isenman, who first met Carpenter while working with the department as an EMT; and longtime friend and colleague BIFD Battalion Chief Dave Hannon.

Carpenter was a sterling example, Teran said, not just of incredibly technical prowess but also sheer dedication to the job.

“People don’t realize the amount of work he’d do in a given day, in a given week, in a given year,” the chief said. “It was not uncommon for him to be at work on the weekends, for him to work in the evenings, for him to be at work in the wee hours of the morning. It was not uncommon for him to wake me up — my pager would go off or my cell phone would go off with a text from Luke about something that was happening at about 4:30 or so in the morning.”

Once, the chief recalled, when he could not sleep, he decided to try to beat Carpenter to work at least once, and sent him a text at about 3 a.m.

“I texted him about the day’s work and he responded immediately back to me,” Teran said. “He was already awake.”

As both a technical authority and the face of the department, Teran said, Carpenter was a crucial member of the team, a sentiment echoed by the others well.

“Luke — probably more than anybody else in the department — is probably that face to the community,” Isenman agreed. “When we think of how we appear to the community and need the ongoing support of the community, it’s really that outward face that we project. And when I think about what Luke’s done, both from my perspective coming up from EMT, but also interacting with him as commissioner, I think we have been incredibly fortunate to have him because of that rare combination. You don’t’ always get a hard-bitten, hardcore, in-depth professional like Luke who also has the people skills to go out and interact, have a report with the community.

Just relax

In one more way, though, one final way at least, Carpenter would be called on to be exemplary, according to Ziemba.

“I ask for some leadership from you now; we’re not letting you off the hook yet,” the police sergeant said. “We, as fellow uniformed personnel, are going to be looking to you in retirement to see you be successful, see you be happy, see you enjoy it. Because if we don’t see others who retire that are like that, then it gives us no hope.

“You’re going to be around the community; I hope I see you smiling and happy and enjoying retirement and you can let us go, knowing that you have created a legacy for us to keep going, that you’re able to put your hat down for now and let somebody else handle all the pager calls.”

Carpenter said his sideline status was still quite surreal for now, though he was looking forward to becoming at least partially involved in many of the programs he helped to start as a volunteer in the months to come.

“It’s been an amazing organization,” he said. “The funny part of it is I always used to hear sirens and stuff like that, and I haven’t heard any. I know they’ve been going out, but being detached from something you’ve been so closely associated with for 28 years is different.

“It’s weird not serving the community, not being there for the community. That may sound a little hokey, but everybody in this organization dedicates themselves to serving this community. And so, when you aren’t doing it on a formal basis, it’s weird. It really is.”