After 21 years of service with the Jefferson City Volunteer Fire Department (JCVFD), Fire Chief Keith Wear retired this July. Wear, who became fire chief in August 2021, is leaving his role due to health reasons. Grace Williams, a firefighter who has volunteered at JCVFD for the past four years, has succeeded him.
“We started out with junky vehicles, no money, and very few volunteers. The volunteers we did have were all over 60 and had to drive from the furthest areas when we’d get a call,” Wear said.
Wear believes things have changed significantly over the past two decades. The department has become more efficient, professional, and well-resourced. The station now has a total of eleven firefighters for this summer, six of whom joined in the last two months.
“They’re all working people who live nearby, and they’re all young. I think I’m leaving the department in good hands,” Wear added.
The department held a farewell for Wear last week, marking the end of an era for him.
“Volunteer firefighters have it in their blood,” said Wear. “As I come up on my retirement, the biggest part I miss is that adrenaline. I realized I don’t have a pager and I don’t have a radio. It’s going to be a big hole in my life.”
Originally from Southern California, Wear began his firefighting career at 19 with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. He moved to Montana with his family in 1997 after his wife accepted a job as a psychologist at Clancy Public School.
Initially based in Helena, Wear worked with the West Valley Fire Station for six months. After a brief pause, he started as a volunteer firefighter at the Jefferson City station.
Wear built a successful contracting business. His son has taken over the construction business recently.
If it weren’t for health reasons, Wear could have served the station for three more years. However, at 67, he found the rescue activities increasingly intense and the firefighting operations more high-tech and fast-paced.
“That’s why I had to teach him how to delegate. I would get on his case all the time and say, ‘You know someone can do that for you,’” said Williams, who will be going through the takeover process over the next two months.
Back in 2005 a little girl went missing in the Tizer Lake area, prompting an immediate response from multiple agencies, including the local fire department, search and rescue teams, sheriffs, and fire departments from Clancy, Montana City, Boulder, and Bull Mountain. As darkness approached, a tracker dog, after smelling the girl’s sweater, located her about a quarter of a mile away. She was hiding under logs.
“I was one of the first responders and I knew we were going to find her. But I wanted to find her good. I didn’t want to find her bad.”
After almost two decades spending here in the fire department when asked what was his
favorite part of the job, he said, “It was probably being with them [firefighters].”
“I don’t have a lot of friends. So being with them was my favorite thing. They became my brothers and sisters,” he said.
