Elaine Retires After 30+ Years of HVFD Service to the Homer Community

Portrait Elaine Grabowski

Next time you stop in the Fire Department to borrow a chimney brush, report a suspicious smoke plume or get your child safety seat checked – a familiar, ever cheerful face will be missing.  After over thirty years with the Homer Volunteer Fire Department, Elaine Grabowski is retiring May 1st.   

Elaine started with the department as a volunteer in the early 1980’s, one of the first group of women to join the department and complete certified firefighter training.  Not long after that, she was hired as HVFD staff and now, many years and thousands of calls later, Elaine leaves the department as the Departmental Services Coordinator, a position with much responsibility and public contact.

In her tenure, Elaine has touched the lives of many in Homer – both publicly and behind the scenes.  She has been the “face” of HVFD at the front entrance of the fire station, greeting the public and providing them with answers to their questions or filling out open burning permits the old fashioned way, by hand.  She has a particular disdain for the state’s on-line system that eliminated public contact and the opportunity to educate each person about safe open burning practices before issuing their permits.  

Elaine Grabowski fitting youth with bike helmet

Elaine’s has been the friendly voice you hear when you call to schedule a fire station tour or a school visit by fire department members.  She developed HVFD’s 20-year, highly successful educational partnership with area public schools in fire safety and hands-on science units about simple machines.  

Thank you poster

Brightly-colored “Thank You’s” wallpapering her office attest to her ability to reach youth – thrilling kids with a highly anticipated slide down the pole or aiming a fire hose – reassuring kids while demonstrating stop, drop and roll or a fireman’s carry. 

Elaine Grabowski with Gary Thomas and others at Fire Station

She also serves as a trained firefighter and EMT, responding to calls. Gary Thomas is one (of only a few) volunteer members who has worked side-by side with Elaine since her arrival at HVFD.  His reminiscence even predates her work at HVFD, “Even before then, we knew her as that cheerful server at the Bidarka Restaurant, asking, ‘Would you like fries with that?’”

He continues, “Serving our community side-by-side for all these years has brought us into an intimate arena of saving lives, seeing lives slip through our fingers, and working together to make sure our community and each other are safe. It creates a relationship and bonds that are deep and powerful.”

“I have the highest respect for Elaine's dedication and hard work.  I vividly remember watching her get blown out through the front door of a business on Bartlett Street as a backdraft explosion unexpectedly erupted in a concealed ceiling space.  She picked herself up off the lawn in the front yard, and was ready to tackle the fire again. Her commitment was unscathed. Elaine and fellow firefighter Deb Lowney fought a house fire with me late one night east of town on Clover.  It was the best crew I have ever worked with in my 36 years with HVFD. She is a good one!"

Elaine and HVFD Volunteers at 2009 Bike Rodeo

Behind the scenes Elaine is always there as well with her trademark cheerful, confident dedication to Homer’s firefighting community.  Besides administrative tasks (such as tracking finances, scheduling, helping maintain the building and firefighting apparatus), her infectious positive outlook and genuine caring have been integral to creating Homer’s vibrant and professional  volunteer firefighter corps  --  engaging members individually when they come by to pick up their weekly newsletter, organizing shared volunteer meal events,  and serving as a conduit between the volunteer members and the Fire Chief, listening to and encouraging resolution of issues of importance to individual members.

In a 2006 Homer News article Elaine was quoted, “It’s the best job in the world…”  Likewise, Homer is fortunate to have had one of the best individuals we can imagine filling that role. We aren’t the only ones to notice.  In 2014, the Governor of Alaska’s Council on Emergency Medical Services honored Elaine with a Special Commendation Award for her dedication to and passion for HVFD and the Homer community as a responder, community educator, leader, mentor and voice for the volunteers.

Her last task has been training her replacement, incoming Departmental Services Coordinator, Jaclyn Arndt.  Jaclyn has been training with Elaine over the past four weeks, attempting to cram 30 years of knowledge and experience into 20 days.  Jaclyn was born and raised in Homer and as a locally trained EMT1 and Firefighter I, she knows her way around the Fire Station.  Importantly, she earns Elaine’s stamp of approval, “When you love your job so much, you want to leave it to the right person.  She is the right person.”  

Welcome Jaclyn!  And thank you Elaine for your service to the Homer community and to the volunteer firefighter community specifically—creating the camaraderie, lasting friendships, professionalism and community trust that highly distinguish the Homer Volunteer Fire Department.

Elaine Grabowski with Homer youth

Even though Elaine is retiring from her job as the Departmental Services Coordinator, she still plans to volunteer with the department she loves --- at least after a short while of getting used to being retired!  Please stop by the Fire Hall the last week of April to wish Elaine well in her new retirement --  that is if you can catch her between calls!