On Monday, firefighter Dave Salhus came in to work one final time at Fire Station 88 in Malibu. It marked his last shift after 33 and a half years on the job, 18 of them spent at the little station on Malibu Road. In leaving, he said goodbye to a lifetime of memories shaped by intense, brotherly relationships with “the other guys in the house” and a community that he came to embrace as his own.
“The most rewarding thing is you really help people in the most basic way,” he said. “But it’s also the atmosphere. You live with a bunch of other guys in this house when you’re on call and you do everything together–sleep, cook, clean. You’re really like a family.”
Salhus, 53, grew up in Long Beach where he knew early on that he wanted to be a firefighter. His dad was a Los Angeles County Battalion Chief for the Fire Department and two of his three brothers became county firefighters as well. Even Salhus’ godfather, Will Farmer, was a captain in Salhus’ own Malibu station back in 1958.
“Dad was a hero in all our eyes,” Salhus said. “I still have a home in Long Beach right across from him.”
Fresh out of high school, Salhus started training with the L.A. County Fire Department—a grueling ordeal that separates the men from the boys. He worked in a number of fire stations around the county, including in Lakewood, before he arrived in Malibu.
“When I got here, it was to slow down a bit,” Salhus said. “I’m a paramedic as well as a firefighter and in other places, you get a lot of drunks, or people shooting each other. In Malibu, people are a little more civilized. It was a community I could embrace.”
Malibu embraced him back. Fellow firefighter/paramedic Tim Scott has known Salhus for 18 years, and worked with him for three at the Malibu Road station. He called Salhus the “unofficial mayor of Malibu,” for his vast social network around town, and his penchant for spending off days at the nearby Starbucks.
“It was more like a real house here, not a business,” Scott said. “A lot of people from all walks of life would come by and say, ‘Is Dave here?’ And when we went on a call, didn’t matter where, Dave would know somebody.”
His easygoing nature belies a dedication to firefighting. Over the years, Salhus has seen his share of heart-warming rescues— ducklings from a sewer, pelicans hung up in netting, sea lions that hole up under a millionaire’s house—but he’s also fought massive wildfires sweeping down from Malibu’s dry, brush-filled canyons.
Over the course of 18 years, the number of fires extinguished and lives saved have admittedly begun to “blur together,” he says, but there are some that stand out.
In 2007, Salhus and fellow paramedic/firefighter Mike Amador were at the station during the Malibu Colony fire while all the fire engines were responding to calls elsewhere.
“The wind was blowing embers right into a big house that was being framed, and we went after it,” he recalled. “But we had to keep reconnecting with the different fire hydrants up and down the street because we only had these short, 200- foot hoses. If we hadn’t been there, another few houses would have been lost.”
Scott said it was always easy to work with Salhus, because he had “seen everything,” and was prepared for any situation no matter how traumatic. But aside from being dedicated to his job, Salhus was not afraid of the give and take at the station.
In 2010, The Malibu Times Magazine named Salhus one of Malibu’s Most Eligible Bachelors. Salhus politely brushes off the designation, admitting only to “having a lot of fun out there, breaking hearts and getting my own broken.”
Nevertheless, Scott says the magazine made an appearance on Malibu Road.
“We had it up in the station,” he laughed. “It was a big deal around here. Being involved in the community as he was.”
One girl did capture his heart, though. Nine years ago, Salhus’ daughter Stella was born and he robustly took on the role of dad. In retirement, he plans to travel with Stella during the summer and spend some time overseas. Thailand is a likely destination.
“Firefighting is a young man’s job,” Salhus said. “I’ve loved it and came to love the Malibu community, but it’s time to move on. I’m not sure what all I’ll do, but I won’t be bored. I tell my daughter, ‘Boredom is a choice’ and I choose to never be bored.”
He said it will feel strange not to come in for a 24-hour shift.
“Malibu has been such a wonderful place to work and I have so many friends here,” Salhus said. “I can’t imagine ever having done anything else. Firefighting really fit me well.”
