Winchester Fire Chief Retiring in February

WINCHESTER, VA- The days are numbered for Scott Cullers to walk through the halls of the Timbrook Public Safety Building as Winchester's Fire Chief.

"Well you've got your mixed feelings you know," says Cullers. "You come to the realization that you're getting old, or maybe older."

After decades in fire and rescue and a little over two years in command, he says it's time to move on.

"I've been doing this 38 years and my entire career from being volunteer up to the chief," Cullers says. "It's always tough to pass the baton on to somebody else."

Cullers, who says he originally wanted to be a veterinarian, got his start at the Friendship Fire Company in Winchester.

"I started in high school in 1972. I'm old but I started as a volunteer," says Cullers.  

Cullers worked in Northern Virginia and Loudoun County before returning to the city where he started.

Under his leadership, the department says it has made strides to have a more regional approach, educate the local public and push forward a grant that put more than 300 smoke detectors in single-family homes.

"It's not me," Cullers says. "It's us as a department that made this happen. One person can't do it unless you have the buy-in from your rank and file personnel."

He says it's now time to move forward to new things.

"I want to pursue teaching up at the National Fire Academy up in Emittsburg," he says. "I want to go through that process. I want to devote some time to my family too."

After years of waking up at 3 a.m. and listening to the city scanner, he says old habits will be tough to break.

"It will be difficult if I listen to a scanner and hear that fire company or something that is major," Cullers says. "You know I'm still gonna have that tendency to go there, but I know I can't do that. So, I'm going to have to pass the baton off to the next."

Chief Cullers says the Winchester Fire and Rescue is proud to have growing diversity, with more women serving. He says there may be a couple women in the running for the position. Cullers' last day is February 23rd.