2A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2017
For this fi refi ghter, the accent is on service
Pioneer ends
career amid
statewide praise
By PATRICK WEBB
For EO Media Group
ILWACO, Wash. — Agnes
Waliser didn’t set out to be a
pioneering female fi refi ghter.
She had a different career
path in mind.
Growing up in Switzerland,
Waliser watched ocean scien-
tist Jacques Cousteau on TV
and dreamed of strapping on
her scuba tanks and diving with
dolphins.
Instead, Waliser is about to
retire after a career as a profes-
sional fi refi ghter on the Long
Beach Peninsula.
But before she does, she
will be honored this weekend
at the American Legion state
convention in Kennewick as
Washington’s Firefi ghter of the
Year.
“I know I was kind of a
pioneer,” she said, noting that
fewer than 1 in 10 fi refi ghters
nationally are women.
Patrick Webb/For EO Media Group
Agnes Waliser enjoys a quiet moment at home in Ilwaco,
Wash., with her dogs, Lola and Tommy. The profession-
al lifesaver from Pacific County Fire District No. 1 will be
honored by the American Legion at the weekend as the
state Firefighter of the Year.
in Lausanne, on the banks of
scenic Lake Geneva. After
earning a degree in zoology
at her hometown university,
and qualifying as a scuba -div-
ing instructor, Waliser wanted
to research the intelligence of
dolphins. She began that path
with an internship at the Uni-
versity of Hawaii and later
studied killer whales in the San
Juan Islands.
Life took a different direc-
tion when she met and married
a man from Ocean Park.
Becoming a volunteer fi re-
fi ghter with Pacifi c County
Proving herself
Waliser’s parents were Hun-
garian artists who fl ed to Swit-
zerland when Russian tanks
rolled into Budapest in 1956.
She grew up fi rst speak-
ing Hungarian, then French
District 1 seemed natural,
working with the peninsula
surf rescue team to use her
scuba training and strengths as
a competitive swimmer.
She was the fi rst female
in Pacifi c County to become
a certifi ed fi refi ghter with the
state. Adding to her experience
and training with emergency
medical technician and other
credentials, Waliser was hired
as a paid fi refi ghter in 2001.
“We had female volunteers,
but I was the fi rst paid female
fi refi ghter with the district,”
she said.
FIVE-DAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA
TONIGHT
SATURDAY
70
55
Pleasant with some
clouds, then sunshine
Partly sunny; breezy in
the afternoon
ALMANAC
First
Full
July 30
Salem
59/92
Newport
52/66
Coos Bay
54/71
Last
Aug 7
Aug 14
John Day
54/93
La Grande
55/91
Baker
47/88
Ontario
63/97
Bend
52/92
Lakeview
50/92
Ashland
58/99
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
TOMORROW'S TIDES
Astoria / Port Docks
Time
7:32 a.m.
7:20 p.m.
Low
-1.7 ft.
1.9 ft.
Today
Lo
47
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66
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Sat.
Lo W
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66
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60
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City
Olympia
Pendleton
Portland
Roseburg
Salem
Seaside
Spokane
Springfi eld
Vancouver
Yakima
Hi
77
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Today
Lo
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Sat.
Lo W
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63
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57
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66
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TOMORROW'S NATIONAL WEATHER
NATIONAL CITIES
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93 75
88 66
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80 59
95 72
86 70
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75 60
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107 87
86 66
97 78
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105 78
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75 56
80 61
97 79
Role model
Away from the job, Wal-
iser has continued her pas-
sion for working with animals
at the Wildlife Center of the
Northwest in Astoria. She and
its late founder, Sharnelle Fee,
The Daily Astorian
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2017
Hi
84
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Excitement
But back pain and sleep
deprivation
issues
from
24-hour shifts helped Waliser
make the decision to retire.
“I will miss it. I can still
fi ght fi re, but I am not as fast
as I was,” she said. “It’s getting
harder for me to do the physi-
cal part.”
Shift
rotations
mean
repeated 24-hour stints then
four days off. Crew mem-
bers sleep during part of their
shifts at the fi re station so
they are available to respond
immediately.
“I don’t recover as fast as
I did 20 years ago,” she said.
“And even if we don’t have a
call, you sleep with one eye
open and one ear up. You have
to be ready when the bell goes
off.
“You have to be 100 per-
cent ready — physically and
mentally. You have to be on
top of your game. Physically
there is no chance to warm up
your muscles.”
But Waliser, 51, has
enjoyed these challenges
“I have loved the job,” she
said. “I have enjoyed going to
calls. Every one is a little dif-
ferent. You have to think on
your feet — quickly fi gure
things out. There’s a puzzle to
solve quickly, so it doesn’t get
worse.”
“You can’t pass the buck
to someone else. You are 911
— you have to cope. You are
‘it.’ There’s defi nitely excite-
ment in successfully fi guring
out how to resolve the problem
and make it better.
“You can’t save everyone,
but we certainly try. You have
to put your heads together and
fi gure it out. That is the very
rewarding part of it.”
shared many adventures, and
she serves on its board.
After a divorce, Waliser
remarried in 2011. She met
her husband, Mark, through
a shared interest in golf; they
also encountered each other
when her ambulance brought
patients into Ocean Beach
Hospital in Ilwaco where he
worked as an emergency room
doctor.
This weekend’s awards
event will be her second
time attending the Ameri-
can Legion convention. Wal-
iser represented her District
1 colleague Joyce Tuerck,
who died in 2015 one month
before she could receive the
Legion’s state EMT honor.
She acknowledged that the
awards generally highlight
community service — going
beyond the job.
That was refl ected in Dis-
trict 1 Fire Chief Jacob Brund-
age’s recommendation letter
for the local Legion award in
November. “Whether it is ran-
dom acts of kindness, or help-
ing out a co-worker in need,
Agnes is there to help,” he
wrote.
Waliser noted she has fed
patients’ cats when they are in
the hospital, and joined with
colleagues to purchase and
deliver Christmas groceries
for people they have aided.
“It’s the right thing to do,”
she said. “We can’t help every-
body, but if there’s a way I can
do a little extra, I will.”
That, and a positive dispo-
sition are key. “Most people
on the peninsula have been
awesome, but some people
still come in and ask the guy
fi refi ghter their question, even
though I am the captain,” she
laughed.
She’s a willing role model,
having spoken on a panel at
Clatsop Community College
about women in leadership
roles. She relishes the chance
to put on her uniform and
drive the fi re truck to schools
during the annual Fire Preven-
tion Week.
“I tell little girls, ‘You
can do this, too. If that’s the
career you want, everything is
possible.
“‘Yes, you can do it!’”
Stop! In the name of walkers
Klamath Falls
49/93
REGIONAL CITIES
City
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Eugene
Ilwaco
Klamath Falls
Medford
Newberg
Newport
North Bend
Working smart
Gender has never been her
biggest issue. Instead, she said,
it is her voice. She has encoun-
tered numerous medical
patients who could not imme-
diately understand her ques-
tions — spoken in English, but
in her noticeable Swiss-French
accent. She said that some-
times co-workers have had to
“translate.”
Her successor as captain,
Matt Beaulaurier, said under-
standing Waliser has never
been a problem for those on
her crew. “We are used to her
accent — we don’t even pay
attention to that, although
sometimes when we are deal-
ing with older folks who
hear too well, we have to
help.”
At 6-3, Beaulaurier offers
a contrasting build to Waliser,
but he said there have never
been any questions about her
effectiveness. “Being shorter
in stature, she is the type to
fi nd a way to work smarter, not
harder,” he said.
He is full of praise for the
manner in which she has made
their job-swap a smooth tran-
sition. “She has helped me out
in ‘passing the torch,’ so to
speak. She has been so good to
work for. She is someone who
always puts others fi rst.”
Burns
48/91
Roseburg
57/95
Brookings
53/75
Tonight's Sky: The bright star Capella of Auriga will
emerge from the northeast around midnight.
Today
Hi Lo
95 75
92 71
87 73
90 63
100 80
91 71
86 70
71 51
88 77
91 76
97 80
104 83
85 66
98 79
91 79
97 78
93 77
92 75
101 76
95 76
104 83
94 72
70 54
76 61
96 80
Prineville
49/94
Lebanon
55/91
Medford
60/100
UNDER THE SKY
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Denver
Des Moines
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Honolulu
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Memphis
Miami
Nashville
New Orleans
New York
Oklahoma City
Philadelphia
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Francisco
Seattle
Washington, DC
Mainly cloudy
Pendleton
59/94
The Dalles
65/97
Portland
62/89
Eugene
53/91
Sunset tonight ........................... 8:58 p.m.
Sunrise Saturday ........................ 5:46 a.m.
Moonrise today ........................... 4:00 a.m.
Moonset today ........................... 7:28 p.m.
High
9.5 ft.
7.6 ft.
68
55
Partly sunny
Tillamook
54/74
SUN AND MOON
Time
12:21 a.m.
1:51 p.m.
70
55
Shown is tomorrow's weather. Temperatures are tonight's lows and tomorrow's highs.
ASTORIA
57/72
Precipitation
Thursday .......................................... 0.08"
Month to date ................................... 0.10"
Normal month to date ....................... 0.75"
Year to date .................................... 49.67"
Normal year to date ........................ 36.66"
July 23
TUESDAY
REGIONAL WEATHER
Astoria through Thursday.
Temperatures
High/low ....................................... 67°/54°
Normal high/low ........................... 68°/54°
Record high ............................ 86° in 1946
Record low ............................. 41° in 1930
New
MONDAY
72
57
57
Mainly clear
SUNDAY
“I spent a lot of time trying
to prove myself. I was female;
I am not as strong as the guys
— I never will be. But I felt
I was ‘one of the guys’ fairly
quickly.”
In 2007, after consider-
able competitive testing, Wal-
iser was promoted to captain.
She supervised a crew of four
split between the Ocean Park
and Seaview fi re stations. She
earned her certifi cation as a
fi re offi cer in 2014.
Last month, she relin-
quished that role and returned
to fi refi ghter rank to ensure a
seamless transition when she
retires in early September.
“I wasn’t a bossy captain,
it was all collaborative,” she
said. “The welfare of my crew
has always come fi rst. I was
the ‘softer’ captain, not one of
those ‘ Type A’ guys.’”
She laughed. “They say
‘Agnes is everybody’s mom.’ I
tend to be a ‘mother hen.’ I’m
10 to 15 years older, some-
times 20 years older, than
some of them.”
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
W
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Astoria Police will
keep a careful eye Monday
on drivers who don’t obey
pedestrian safety laws.
Extra offi cers will be
on duty to act as pedestri-
ans crossing both marked
and unmarked crosswalks.
Drivers who don’t stop or
pass another vehicle that
does stop may face a $260
fi ne. Other traffi c viola-
tions will be enforced in
this period, as well.
The program is funded
through a grant from Ore-
gon Impact, a nonprofi t
group that aims to curb
traffi c deaths.
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
Chris McNeary, now a sergeant, walks with German shepherd
McKinley and points out a car that failed to yield to him while
using the crosswalk on Sixth Street and Marine Drive in 2011.
Meet with City Councilor Brownson Saturday
The Daily Astorian
Astoria City Councilor Tom Brownson is holding a “Meet Your Councilor” event at 9 a.m. Sat-
urday at Three Cups Coffee House, under the bridge at 279 W. Marine Drive.
LOTTERIES
DEATH
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy,
sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries,
sn-snow, i-ice.
July 15, 2017
MELSON, Marlin, 58, of Astoria, died in Asto-
ria. His family and friends will gather on Sunday for
a memorial at the South Jetty. Contact the family for
details.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
NEWPORT H2
؏SHITAKE/BROWN SUGAR؏
FRIDAY
Oregon Recreation Trails Advisory Council, 9 a.m.
to 4 p.m., Holiday Inn Express, 204 West Marine Drive.
OREGON
Thursday’s Pick 4:
1 p.m.: 1-7-8-2
4 p.m.: 4-4-5-4
7 p.m.: 3-0-3-7
10 p.m.: 2-8-3-5
WASHINGTON
Thursday’s Daily Game: 6-9-6
Thursday’s Keno: 06-08-11-17-19-20-21-
24-27-28-30-31-34-40-43-53-54-74-77-80
Thursday’s Match 4: 09-15-18-23
MEN’S SIZES 8.5-12, 13, 14
(While they last)
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