Glenwood Springs fire chief bids farewell after 50 years in the fire service

Not many people can say they’ve climbed the career ladder twice — especially when that ladder sometimes turns into a literal, aerial ladder. 

One such climber is Glenwood Springs Fire Chief Gary Tillotson. 

After 50 years in the fire service, Tillotson is ready to announce that he’s reached the final rung. 

“In my 50 years, I’d like to say I’ve seen it all, but that’s not true because you’ve never seen it all,” he said. “But I’ve been hands-on involved in everything from large wildfires, to train crashes, to airplane crashes …  kind of a front row seat, if you will, to any number of incidents.” 

Tillotson started fighting fires as a full-time volunteer firefighter in Granby, Colorado, when he was 20 years old. 

The word “volunteer” meant he quickly saw the need for a second job to pay for his living expenses while he protected and served the community. 

“I grew up on a ranch up there,” Tillotson said. “So previous to coming here, I was in heavy equipment and construction work and ranching. That’s how I put food on the table.” 

Of the 18 years Tillotson spent as a full-time volunteer, he spent the last five as the department’s fire chief. As much as he had poured into his work in Granby, it wasn’t long before Tillotson was ready to move on to a completely new kind of ladder — one that came with a salary. 

“I’ve climbed the ladder a couple of times in my overall career,” he laughed. “I didn’t come here as chief. I had to climb the ladder again.” 

Tillotson moved to Glenwood Springs in August of 1992 to work as a firefighter EMT (emergency medical technician) for the Glenwood Springs Fire Department. His first two years in Glenwood, however, overlapped with his final two years volunteering in Granby, as he would still regularly commute to Granby to fulfill a part-time firefighting role, which allowed him to complete his 20 years with that department. 

He was promoted to fire captain (now called battalion chief) during his first 19 years with the Glenwood Springs Fire Department and was eventually offered the role of fire chief in May 2011. 

Tillotson became a full-time volunteer firefighter at the age of 20.
Andrea Teres-Martinez/Post Independent

This past February, Tillotson, at 70 years old, officially celebrated 50 years in the fire service. When asked why he decided to retire, he stated that it was precisely this milestone that pushed him to take a step back from the job.

“That was kind of one of those milestones that I was happy to reach, but maybe changed my priorities moving forward,” he said. 

Ultimately, Tillotson’s decision came down to one word: Family. 

Tillotson explained that both his job and his personal life have changed significantly over the last 30 years, and now require more commitment from him than he’s willing to give up — especially when those commitments lead to missing big family events and celebrations. 

“I’m at a point in my life where I would really like to be putting my energy into my family, my grandkids, and have my schedule be flexible enough that I can be there for the important occasions in their life,” he said. 

Tillotson’s position required him to constantly be on-call, which further kept him from traveling to see family on weekends and vacations. Up until two years ago, there wasn’t anyone for him to delegate those responsibilities with, which is why he was happy to get a deputy chief position approved within the department. 

“I think that’s why there’s a desire in me to make up some of that family time that I may have lost because of those priorities,” he said. “I’m sure that my kids and my grandkids over the years have gone, ‘Well darn, why can’t you be here?’ And it’s because it’s too far from home, I need to stay close when wildfire season seems really dangerous. I wouldn’t get too far away because I wanted to be here, just in case.”

“I snuck in weekends, never without the cell phone,” Tillotson continued. “Now we’re able to split that responsibility … I can tell the deputy, ‘I’m going to be out of town for a few days.'” 

Tillotson plans to spend his retirement in Glenwood Springs. In addition to his love for the city, it also places him only a few hours away from his son and granddaughter in Denver, his youngest son and granddaughters in Cortez, and only a short drive from family in Rifle. 

“They have events and things like that, and it seems like they always conflict with something that I need to be doing,” he said. “That’ll be a goal moving forward, to be more available for those types of life events for the grandkids.”

Tillotson was named fire chief of the Glenwood Springs Fire Department in May 2011.
Andrea Teres-Martinez/Post Independent

As grateful as he is to soon be spending more time with his family, Tillotson said he’ll miss the second family he’s formed through working with his team. 

“The fire service is by its own nature a kind of a family,” he said. “You come together with people, you do all kinds of extraordinary things, you become close as a team.” 

In terms of the work itself, Tillotson described himself as an adrenaline junkie, which will make it especially difficult to sit still after nearly 50 years of active service. 

“(My job) has given me the opportunity to have a front row seat to a lot of huge events that I otherwise wouldn’t have had.” he said. “And I also have the opportunity to participate in the resolution of some of those larger incidents, and that’s huge. To me, that’s been my motivating factor.” 

“I’m gonna miss the team. I’m gonna miss being one of the first ones to know when something’s going on. That’s going to be a culture shock for me,” Tillotson continued. “I’ve really enjoyed being able to have a hand in the resolution of what the incident is.” 

Tillotson said he’s looking forward to exploring different activities to keep himself active, and to help satisfy his “adrenaline junkie side.”  

“Maybe I’ll develop a good golf game, or maybe a bad golf game,” he laughed. “But I’ll pick up some hobbies that have been set aside for a lot of years … I want to dabble a little bit in any and lots of things.” 

For the nearly retired fire chief, boating is the perfect place to start. 

“I used to have a pretty keen interest in boating when my kids were young,” he said. “I used to go to Lake Powell a lot. I haven’t done that for a long time now.” 

Although he may not be around in the station to work with whomever the city selects as its new fire chief, Tillotson feels confident that both his team and the new chief will be left in good hands. 

“I hope that the next person will continue to cherish the strong team that we have here, and is a real team builder,” Tillotson said. “We have an absolutely excellent group of people that work with this agency. I think that our teamwork is awesome and I hope that we can get somebody that can even enhance that teamwork.” 

Chief Tillotson’s last day as fire chief will be April 5. Because the Glenwood Springs Fire Department is currently in the process of screening applicants for the position, the city announced that Chief of Police Joseph Deras will be standing in as interim fire chief until they’ve gone through the hiring process. 

“If you really like where you work, it’s a whole lot more enjoyable,” Tillotson said. “If you like where you work, and you like who you work with, and who you work for, it’s not work anymore. It can become a passion. It can become what you want to do.” 

Tillotson’s last day as fire chief will be April 5.
Andrea Teres-Martinez/Post Independent