Hoodland fire chief retires after 30 years
By Ty Walker, The Mountain Times
Hoodland Fire District #74 Fire Chief Jim Price has announced his retirement. Firefighters, friends, and family planned to celebrate his last day on the job Oct. 30 with a party in his honor at the historic ZigZag Inn.
This is actually the second time Price, 57, has retired. The first time he officially retired was July 2025, after devoting 30 years to a career fighting fires and providing emergency medical services throughout Oregon. Through the state’s workback program, he stayed in Hoodland, serving an extra year at the helm to see the district through some difficult times.
Hoodland and the rest of the world was in the throes of the Covid pandemic when he was first hired by the district in January 2021. He helped steady the ship through his almost six years on the job.
This time, he’s ready to hang up his helmet for good and pass the torch to District Division Chief and Fire Marshall Scott Kline. The five member fire board selected Kline to be Price’s successor and was in contract negotiations with Kline when The Mountain Times went to press.
Price is the subject for The Mountain Times Fire Focus Hoodland firefighter for November. He reflected on his life-long career as a firefighter paramedic and fire chief.
It all started when Price was a teenager. His father pushed him to volunteer at the Clark County fire station near their Battleground, Wash., home.
“My dad and uncle were retired Portland firefighters,” Price said. “When I was 18, I graduated from high school. I was being a bum laying around my dad’s house. He got tired of it. He kicked me out of bed one day, took me to the fire station in Clark County and told me, ‘You’re going to volunteer and you’re not going to do anything else.
“That started it and I liked it. I got my EMT in 1989. I decided this was the career for me.”
Soon after volunteering, he worked for Jackson County Fire District 1 for about 6 ½ years, then the Baker City Fire Department for almost 20 years, working his way up from firefighter paramedic to fire chief. Then he returned to Jackson County where he was fire chief briefly before making the move to Mount Hood where he took over as Hoodland fire chief.
Price is happy with his career and his accomplishments. He said he thinks he did a good job but is ready for something else now.
“I'm proud of stabilizing the budget and getting staffing back up,” he said. “Getting some apparatus replaced that needed to be replaced. We started the new fire station. I give most of the credit to the board and Scott Kline, the division chief and fire marshal. I guess I’ll claim a little bit of that. We were all a part of that.”
The chief rallied support for the $19.145 million voter-passed bond measure for the new fire station on the former Dorman Property site. The new main Welches station will replace the ill- equipped antiquainted one.
“There are a lot of things I'm proud of here,” Price said. “Mostly just steering the ship and
coming out of the tough times, they were struggling a bit with Covid and some other issues. Getting us on the right track was my biggest accomplishment, I think.”
He remembered skiing on the mountain as a boy growing up in Battleground. He and his wife recently bought a house in Vancouver, Wash. He is looking forward to enjoying his retirement and to not being on call. He’d like to make more time to fish, hunt, read, and relax.
“I’d like to ski again,” Price said. “I think I still know how but it's been 15 years. My wife’s a little leery. It depends if I can get her into it.”
Price plans to enjoy the holiday season for a couple of months then go from there.
“If I get bored, I’ll get a parttime job with as little responsibility as possible,” he said. “I have a lot to do with my new house. I’m looking forward to being homeowner again, gardening, taking care of my new place, traveling, fishing, and spending time with my family.”
Price said he will miss the people with whom he works. But it's time to pass the torch to younger people with more energy to move the Hoodland Fire District forward.
“Everywhere I’ve left I've worked with good people,” he said. “I missed those guys when I left Baker, then I went to Rogue River. They were good people there. It was a little bit sad and then I came up here. It’s the same thing. It’s pretty universal, I think I’ll miss the people I work with.
“Its been an honor and a pleasure to serve the community of Hoodland on Mount Hood. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but I’m ready to pass the torch.”
The Hoodland Fire District fire chief acts as the district's CEO and budget officer, overseeing fire protection, rescue, and advanced life support (ALS) services. Price was paid an annual salary of $165,000.