Paul Ouellette got through the first three decades of his life with no thought of being a firefighter. Then a car crashed into an elementary school across the street from his house.

It was 1972. Ouellette was a computer professional, married and raising a family in DeWitt, N.Y.

He got talking to one of the fire officials at the accident scene, and the man invited him to stop by the station. Ouellette's subsequent decision to join the department started him on 40 years of great moments, awful ones, and endless training and paperwork as a volunteer firefighter.

One of his best memories is the time he helped resuscitate a young drowning victim at a community pool in Dewitt. “We brought her back. And when we heard that she was going to be OK, and her brain was OK, that was fantastic,” he said.

Ouellette's voice lowered as he recalled being the one who found an entire family dead in a Pompey, N.Y., house fire on Christmas morning. The Christmas tree was not believed to have been the source of the fire, but its presence, in the midst of the tragedy, has stuck with him.

His duties as a firefighter and sometimes also a paramedic have meant his wife Jackie Ouellette never knew when he would be called away to an emergency. A couple times, the timing was particularly bad. He had to leave once when she thought she was going into labor. Before he headed out the door, he told her, “Well, you know how to reach me.” Fortunately, it was a false labor.

Jackie Ouellette doesn't worry about her husband's safety when he's at a scene. “I know he knows what he's doing,” she said. And, if something did happen, “I can stand on my own two feet.”

When Ouellette is out on a call, the foremost thought in his mind is the safety of all the firefighters. “We want everyone to make it home,” he said.

The last seven of Ouellette's years of service have been for the Alna Fire Department. He and his wife moved to town in 1999, after years of family vacations in Maine.

For his first six years in Alna, Ouellette still belonged to other fire departments in the communities where he traveled for his job. When he joined Alna's department, his work and firefighting experience, particularly with larger departments, came in handy. He helped the department document members' training and keep up with state and federal regulations.

As he did for some of the larger departments, Ouellette took part in efforts to upgrade the facilities for Alna's department. Seeing the major addition and renovation to the existing station “was a treat,” he said. “It was a lot of work, but this is a beautiful building.”

The Ouellettes celebrated 50 years of marriage in May 2012.

They are leaving Alna soon, for their new home in Raleigh, N.C. One of their sons is a senior police detective in the special victims unit there. “We're in our 70s, it's time to be near family,” Jackie Ouellette said.

On July 25, the department gave the couple a surprise supper. Jackie Ouellette got a bouquet; her husband, a plaque thanking him for his service.

Leaving the department isn't easy. Ouellette felt more camaraderie there than at some of the bigger departments he served. “Everybody seems to get along with everybody, virtually all the time,” he said. “The townspeople are very lucky to have such a dedicated group of people.”

The department has been fortunate to have Ouellette as a member and a captain, Fire Chief Mike Trask said.

Ouellette has saved him and Assistant Chief Roger Whitney “a lot of work” on various tasks, Trask said. “He's been a good asset, and he'll definitely be missed.”