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Frank Pinney in Big Sur with Mount Manuel and Ventana Cones in the background. (ORVILLE MYERS/The Herald)




He knew it happened some time around 1990, but Frank Pinney had to think a few moments about his career with the Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade to pinpoint when he became the chief.

It was 1992, he figured, because he took the post soon after the brigade moved into its firehouse.

When Pinney became chief isn't that memorable, because stepping into the role was inevitable, a formality for a man who has been with the fire brigade since it formed nearly four decades ago.

Pinney, 68, retired from the brigade in May, succeeded by Martha Karstens. His service to the brigade will be celebrated with a barbecue at noon Saturday at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. The gathering will also serve as a celebration of the unit's 35th anniversary and as a fundraiser for the brigade.

Residents say if ever there was an unofficial mayor of Big Sur, Pinney would be it.

"If you've spent any time in Big Sur, you would certainly be aware of Frank's role and his presence," said Kirk Gafill, general manager at Nepenthe restaurant and president of the Big Sur Chamber of Commerce. "He had such a prominent role for so long, really by force of his own personality and the time and effort he put into the fire brigade. He's always had a much larger view than the small town parochial view of what the fire brigade should be."

While Pinney struggles to recall when he became chief, he has clear memories of the fledgling days of the brigade, when the first volunteers met in 1972 in an old


Caltrans barn just south of the Pfeiffer State Park entrance. All they had was an old fire engine they bought from the state for $1.

"There were 12 of us," he said, "if we all showed up."

As far as he can tell, the original unit made Big Sur history a year later when it saved a burning structure at the Riverside campground.

"It was probably the first structure saved in Big Sur," Pinney said. "Every other structure fire pretty much turned into a total loss."

Prior to the formation of the brigade, the nearest fire unit was probably an hour away, he said.

The brigade was officially formed in 1974, and has since grown to about 35 volunteers, with 15 others contributing in support roles. The brigade moved into an 8,000 square-foot station near Post Ranch Inn in 1992, and has added two substations farther down the coast.

The 3,150-foot Mount Manuel can be seen from the front of the main station. Much of it is charred by last year's Basin Complex Fire, which, combined with the Indians Fire, burned most of the Ventana wilderness.

Pinney said those fires, which the brigade's volunteers call "the five months of fire," made for the biggest disaster he experienced in Big Sur, a coastal expanse of towering mountains and dense forest conducive to nature's wrath.

It was more devastating to the community, he said, than the landslides of 1998.

It was then, many Big Sur residents say, that Pinney shined as a leader of the community.

With Highway 1 in shambles, travel between Big Sur and the Peninsula was nearly impossible. Many of the residents preferred to stay at their homes rather than be helicoptered north of Carmel River, while others wanted out.

Pinney persuaded the Office of Emergency Services to let the brigade manage the disaster. He became incident commander, coordinating efforts to provide food and supplies to Big Sur residents, transporting those needing to get out and providing a network to keep order in the community.

When the traditional government agencies were unable to get to Big Sur, Gafill said, "Frank was able to make the brigade run the needs of the community."

Another notch on Pinney's legacy, said Butch Kronlund, a Big Sur resident who has known Pinney for 20 years, was his recent push for the creation of a Community Emergency Response Team, in which community members and local agencies are trained in a coordinated manner for emergency response.

He didn't do it for the glory, Kronlund said, "but for the good of the people around here."

As much as he has contributed to the brigade, the retired chief said it has successfully grown into a major Big Sur presence because of community support and a commitment from the volunteer firefighters who often have to leave their day jobs to respond to a call.

The brigade "represents the commitment of the community to take care of its own," Pinney said. "In the city, I don't think (a fire department) has quite the social meaning as it does here."

Pinney does not plan to completely disappear from the public eye. He is sticking with his day job as a general contractor, and he remains on the brigade's board of directors. But the time had come, he said, to hand over the brigade's leadership duties to someone else.

"I'll be 70 in a couple more years," he said. "It's time to think about another chapter in my life."

Laith Agha can be reached at 646-4358 or lagha@montereyherald.com.

Posted by Margie Whitnah