It’s only been two months since Steve Hutchinson hung up his lieutenant’s helmet with Central Whidbey Island Fire & Rescue.

And already, he misses it.

“It’s real tempting to get back into it,” he said over coffee this week at Coupeville Coffee & Bistro.

“But I’m so busy now.”

Hutchinson served 27 years as a volunteer firefighter in Coupeville, starting at the time when the department was all volunteer.

However, at age 62, with his first grandchild on the scene, life to enjoy and various demands on his time, Hutchinson decided to focus his energies serving the fire department exclusively as a commissioner.

He retired in April as the department’s only volunteer lieutenant, a move that wasn’t formally recognized until cake was served at the monthly commissioners meeting last week.

Consistent with his busy schedule, Hutchinson wore a Scottish kilt to the meeting.

After the meeting, he had to rush to catch the Clinton ferry to play the bass drum in a pipe band at an elementary school graduation reception near Bellevue.

“I started out playing the pipes,” said Hutchinson, who hails from Scottish and Irish ancestry. “Now when I get them out to play, everybody runs.”

Nobody runs from Hutchinson at the fire department.

For nearly three decades, he’s led by example, bringing to the fire department an air of leadership and technical understanding to go along with an eagerness to learn and grow.

A P-3 Orion pilot in the Navy, he continued to fly for private airlines for 31 years until taking a medical leave in 2013 to deal with some health issues.

He’s worked to improve his health and cut back on some of his commitments, firefighting among them.

He has been doubling up as fire commissioner and acting lieutenant at Station 51 in Coupeville since last summer when he was selected to serve the rest of the term of commissioner after the retirement of Tom Smith.

“It’s a hard decision to make,” said Cheryl Engle, a fire commissioner for 24 years. “It’s a real obligation to volunteer with how much that it is, and with the commissioner, there’s work with that, too. So one kind of had to go.”

Engle said she’s happy that Hutchinson is sticking to the commissioner’s seat along side her and Paul Messner.

“He’s a good fit,” she said. “Steve takes the whole thing very seriously.”

Hutchinson said he’s glad he still gets to be part of what he calls a “great organization” and his impact will still be felt.

“As commissioners, we are the interface between the public and the fire department,” he said. “The public trusts us with their tax dollars.”

He said commissioners are responsible for watching department spending and also for setting department policy.

“I can still be involved in the fire department but in a different role,” Hutchinson said.

Marvin Raavel, a 61-year-old volunteer firefighter, said Hutchinson’s influence on his 15 years in the department has been invaluable.

His confidence has soared with the aid of Hutchinson and others.

“He was always willing to come over and show us guys fresh out of the academy what not to do,” Raavel said. “Everybody wants to tell you what to do. He’d come along with this other perspective: ‘Let me show you what not to do because it hurts too much if you do’ and it kind of stuck with me that he was willing to lighten the atmosphere.

“Kind of like what he does at board meetings.”

At last week’s commissioners meeting, a screen showed still images of Hutchinson in his early years with the department.

“I don’t know where you got those,” Hutchinson said.

His wife of 39 years, Alana, a paramedic at Whidbey General Hospital, also attended the meeting.

“It was the quickest 27 years of my life,” Hutchinson said. “It’s great. I had the opportunity to serve with some great people and experience some great things. I’m glad I’m in a position as a commissioner to still be a part of it.”