Most people are content with one or two careers over the course
of a lifetime, working the nine to five and climbing the proverbial
corporate ladder. Hollister resident Gary Kampf, 48, is not most
people. At any given point in time, he is a firefighter, a chef and
even a college umpire
– but if you asked him, he’ll still tell you that he
”
doesn’t do much.
”
Hollister – Most people are content with one or two careers over the course of a lifetime, working the nine to five and climbing the proverbial corporate ladder. Hollister resident Gary Kampf, 48, is not most people. At any given point in time, he is a firefighter, a chef and even a college umpire – but if you asked him, he’ll still tell you that he “doesn’t do much.”
Born in Kansas, Kampf’s family moved to what was then the small farming community of Watsonville when he was still a toddler. While he claims his youth was for the most part uneventful, Santa Cruz County’s natural beauty certainly left him with an appreciation of the environment – by the time he graduated high school, Kampf wanted to pursue a career in forestry.
“Cabrillo College didn’t offer forestry,” he said. “So I decided the closest thing was the fire science program… Now it doesn’t really feel like a job, it’s more of a passion.”
After he finished his schooling, Kampf took seasonal work with the Watsonville Fire Department before moving on to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Over the span of his nearly 31-year firefighting career, he has been stationed at a number of departments and now works at the Bear Valley CDF, as a captain.
“It’s a great life,” he said. “People in fire service become one big family, there’s a real brotherhood. I know it’s a cliche, but for the most part it’s true.”
His long career in firefighting means that Kampf has been present and actively labored in many of the great disasters in recent memory – the Loma Prieta earthquake, the Pajaro flood, and he spent two months fighting a giant forest fire at Yellowstone National Park.
“I’ve pretty much seen it all, and you never get used to it,” he said.
Perhaps the greatest proof of his success, however, is that his 24-year-old son Brandon chose to follow in his father’s footsteps – he’s in his fourth year at the CDF station in San Mateo.
Kampf plans to retire from firefighting this April, but he hasn’t even considered slowing down. In 2003, he attended a professional umpire school in Daytona Beach, Fla., along with would-be umps from all over the world.
“It’s a pretty intense six-week course,” he said. “Almost paramilitary. But I knew this is something I would like to do in retirement; you get some exercise and you get to travel a lot, too.”
Kampf serves as umpire for local games, but also for NCAA college baseball games throughout the state.
And last but not least, Kampf was able to find time to earn a culinary degree and open his own catering business – Kampf-Fire Catering and Barbecue – centered in Santa Cruz County. He also moonlights as a chef for the Cutting Horse Restaurant in San Juan Bautista when the need arises, and plans on opening his own restaurant in San Benito County within the next few years.
“I guess all in all I’ve been pretty lucky,” he said. “I’ve been able to take the things I love and make a career out of it.”
