When you grow up with a mom who was pivotal in creating Emergency Medical Services in Cosmopolis, it’s not surprising you would be interested in becoming a firefighter and first responder yourself. That’s the story of The Daily World’s 2018 Firefighter of the Year, Capt. Steve Davis.

“Mom started the program when I was 13 or 14,” said Davis of his mother, Pat. “I packed supplies, cleaned the CPR dummies, that’s how I got into it.”

His peers commented on Davis’ tenacity, commitment and take-charge attitude.

Cosmopolis Fire gets about 240 call-outs a year, said fire chief David Dutton. Davis responds to most all of them, and doesn’t hesitate to take charge. Fellow firefighters remember a major structure fire, where “Steve was calling the shots, told us to set up here, giving direction without hesitation, cool as a cucumber,” said Capt. Shane Bridges.

Cosmopolis Mayor Frank Chestnut noted that in a small, all-volunteer department like Cosmopolis, dedication to that level is critical in providing a high level of emergency services.

“There are few people you see with the passion and commitment Steve has,” said Chestnut. “His dedication and passion stands out.”

second generation

Davis is a lifelong resident of the area. His mom was “instrumental” in creating Grays Harbor EMS, said Davis, and provided all the training across the county and beyond. She also served for a time on the Cosmopolis Police Force and, for a short time, with the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office.

Fellow firefighter Danny Wilson remembers living next door to Davis when they were just kids. Davis now works as a construction contract estimator and has two daughters and a granddaughter and grandson who live in the area. His local knowledge has proven beneficial to his chief.

“I’m a transplant,” said Dutton, who originally hailed from Bothell. “I’m not from here, and get lost in so many conversations,” talking about folks giving locations like “the old so-and-so place. Steve knows everybody in town.”

Davis is a big man, soft-spoken with an air of confidence. That doesn’t mean, however, he doesn’t know how to have some fun at the expense of his fellow volunteers.

“Never a dull moment,” said firefighter Jerry Schreck.

“You never know when he’s joking or he’s serious,” said Wilson. “He has a very dry sense of humor.”

Another Cosmopolis firefighter said, “You never know what you might find in your locker.” Specifically, San Francisco 49ers stickers. In a station full of Seahawks fans you can imagine the reaction. And these aren’t the peel and stick type of decals either. It took some scraping to remove them, and most lockers still have the white backing from those stickers, nearly impossible to remove.

Dutton said Davis’ memory is off the charts.

“He has an innate ability to remember the most benign things,” he said.

Davis is also someone who can be counted on.

“If I ever need something I always call Steve,” said Dutton. If Dutton is hanging Christmas lights and needs a ladder, he said Davis would deliver the ladder, unload it, jump in to help hang the lights, pack up and go.

“When he commits to something he’s in 100 percent,” said Wilson. “He’s always the frontrunner, never in the back seat.”

That commitment includes educating local school kids about the fire department. Whenever a class of young people comes to tour the station, it’s usually Davis who is there, front and center, keeping the kids engaged and interested as he teaches. In doing so, his fellow firefighters hope to encourage the next generation of emergency responders and build a core of young locals who will stay in the area and contribute to their community.

Davis is one of the few firefighters who participate in firefighter stair climbs, where he dons his 85 pounds of gear and climbs dozens of flights of stairs in the fundraisers for leukemia and cystic fibrosis research. This grueling task covers 85 floors at the event in Seattle, 40 at the one in Portland.

“Everyone should do it just once,” he said, adding that the charitable aspect is only part of the benefit. “You learn your limitations.”

Davis was an Emergency Medical Technition and IV tech, but let his credentials lapse and is “just a captain in the fire service.”

On top of everything else, Davis has been a member of the Cosmopolis Lions Club, and has served as the organization’s president “a couple of times.”

Davis will be honored with the Denny York memorial award at The Daily World’s Citizen of the Year banquet at the Aberdeen Elks Lodge May 17. York was a longtime Cosmopolis Fire Department volunteer who died after an industrial accident at the Cosmopolis Weyerhaeuser pulp mill in 1986.