All his life, Sacramento Fire Department Capt. Jim Doucette wanted to be a police officer.

Until he got a job as a firefighter.

Doucette said he was initially afraid of being a firefighter, knowing he would see more traumatic injuries than a police officer, but once he got involved with the fire department, he fell in love with the job.

After more than 30 years in the fire service, Doucette announced his retirement last week.

The official date is Aug. 24, after which he will take a vacation to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and spend some time in Boise, Ida., to visit family.

“It has been a very long career, and one that I will surely miss,” Doucette wrote in a post on The Sacramento Press.

He said Monday that he will miss the pride he felt in telling people he is a captain for the Sacramento Fire Department.

“I’m very proud of that...but now I’ll be telling them I’m a retired captain, and that’s something I’m proud of too,” Doucette said.

Since 2006, Doucette served as the public information officer for the department, and it was something of a natural fit for his personality.

“I love the Fire Department, and I love to talk. People can’t shut me up,” he said.

Battalion Chief Niko King held the information officer position before Doucette and characterized Doucette as always being calm.

“His whole mission was to always get the word out to the public about the fire service and what we do and the great men and women in this profession, and that’s exactly what he did,” King said.

King admitted to sometimes getting frustrated with some of the questions when he was dealing with the media, but said Doucette was always patient and never lost his cool or got frazzled.

Doucette was hired as a volunteer firefighter for the Pacific Fire District in 1979, and began working for Sacramento when the smaller district was absorbed by the Sacramento Fire Department in 1991.

By the time he was 29, Doucette was already a captain, and he led his company on many of the major fires in Sacramento over the next 15 years.

“I do miss the station life and the camaraderie and going to work every day and playing and working together,” Doucette said. “It’s a full day, and it’s like being at home, except it’s a lot of work.”

Doucette will start a new job as executive director for the Firefighters Burn Institute, an organization he has been involved with for 25 years.

“It’s a firefighter-based charity, and in my humble opinion, its gotten stagnant in some ways,” Doucette said. “I would like to see more firefighters get involved, and I’d like to see the community get more involved.”

Lincoln Fire Department Chief Dave Whitt worked with Doucette in Sacramento and said he has a good, level head on his shoulders and is often the voice of common sense and reason.

“He’s always been a strong leader in any organization he’s been responsible for,” Whitt said. “I think it will be a good move not only for the Burn Institute, but for him. He’s been at pretty busy fire stations for most of his career, and that takes its toll on your body.”

The institute was founded by Sacramento Fire Department Capt. Cliff Haskell in 1973, about a year after the tragedy at Farrell’s ice cream parlor on Freeport Avenue when an airplane crashed into the shop, killing more than 20 people. A Sacramento firefighter and his family were among the victims.

“That’s when Cliff went to work,” Doucette said. “Burn units are a financial strain on the medical community, and I’ve heard stories of people all over the country treated at small hospitals where they don’t have the training to treat burns.”

Retired Stockton Fire Department Capt. Oscar Barrera has worked with Doucette for a number of years through the Burn Institute and said he will be a great fit as executive director.

“He’s a great guy,” Berrera said. “He’s going to be a good asset to the Burn Institute...It’s going to keep the Burn Institute heading in the right direction.”

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Photos courtesy of Jim Doucette.