The former chief of northeast Clark County’s emergency medical services district as well as one of the region’s fire departments has died.
On Oct. 5, both North Country EMS and Clark County Fire District 13 announced the passing of Tom McDowell. During his 47-year public safety career, he served as chief of both departments and as the leader of the all-volunteer Volcano Rescue Team.
“Chief McDowell was the perfect example of whom those in public service should strive to become,” North Country EMS wrote in a social media post.
McDowell’s involvement with public safety in northeast Clark County dated back to 1971. He was on his way home from work at the Clark County Sheriff’s Office when he saw a need in Yacolt. A shed had caught fire not too far out of town and there wasn’t enough manpower available to handle the blaze.
“In that time period there was almost no fire department in Yacolt at all,” McDowell said during a 2018 interview around the time he decided to retire.
As the undersheriff for Clark County, he felt compelled to get fire protection support for the town, and eventually was called by Yacolt’s mayor to start the department.
Following the creation of the fire department, McDowell also helped form North Country EMS in 1976, which served the medical side of public safety in the region. To this day, the chief of Fire District 13 is the chief of North Country with the latter serving a vast area of about 1,000 square miles in Clark, Cowlitz and Skamania counties. FD13 serves about 37 square miles including the town of Yacolt and its surrounding area as well as around Dole Valley and Sunset Falls roads.
About a decade later, in 1986, McDowell helped start another public safety service, the Volcano Rescue Team. The all-volunteer team handles mountain-related incidents. It was created after Mount St. Helens reopened for climbing.
McDowell was the chief of FD13 and North Country EMS until 2011, then he assumed the assistant chief position as incoming chief Ben Peeler took over. Peeler himself left in 2017 with current chief Shaun Ford coming in.
Nearby agencies paid their respects following the news of McDowell’s death.
“Rest In Peace Chief McDowell,” Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue wrote in a social media post. “The citizens of Clark County owe you an immeasurable debt, on top of all of the other communities served by emergency services personnel that received their training from (North Country) EMS.
