LUCERNE, Calif. – Northshore Fire Protection District's chief said he'll hang up his gear officially this summer.

Jim Robbins, 59, said he will be retiring on June 30.

By the time of his retirement Robbins will have spent 38 years as a fire chief.

He has been chief of the Northshore Fire Protection District since 2006, after the districts on the Northshore – Upper Lake, Nice, Clearlake Oaks and Lucerne – finished their consolidation process.

Prior to that, he was chief of the Lucerne Fire Department beginning in 1973.

Robbins, who grew up in the county, started with the district in 1967, when – at age 16 – he began as a junior fireman.

Northshore Fire is the largest fire protection district by geographic size in the state, at 350 square miles. Robbins said the district currently has 26 full-time and part-time paid firefighters and another 62 volunteers.

He said the district's board is going out to an open selection process.

“We would hope to have somebody selected prior to me leaving so I can at least work with them for a couple of months to go over things, how we run things around here,” Robbins said.

Robbins, whose wife Leah also is a Northshore firefighter, said he plans to continue living in the county following his retirement.

In other district news, Robbins said Battalion Chief Pat Brown has been promoted to the deputy chief position.

The appointment of Brown, a longtime firefighter with the district, is permanent, Robbins said.

The position had been unfilled since Gary Saylor retired some time ago, Robbins added.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .