Joe Schutte originally planned to go into a career in medicine. As he grew up, circumstances and opportunities changed and Schutte wound up as Hamilton’s fire chief.

After 32 years on the job, Schutte officially retires on Sept. 6. As of Tuesday, he has started taking unused vacation leave and will be succeeded when Deputy Chief Steve Dawson is promoted to chief.

Being the oldest in a family of eight children, Schutte said that he couldn’t really see a career in medicine happening.

But the 1970s television series “Emergency” about firefighters inspired him to look at a new paramedicine field that was evolving across the nation.

“I knew that Hamilton had a paramedic service but I had to take the Civil Service firefighter test,” Schutte said. “After I got on (the department), I took the first opportunity to go paramedic school.”

He also had an uncle, Gerald Buelter, who had been a city firefighter since the mid-1960s.

After joining the Hamilton Fire Department in April 1980, Schutte worked with his uncle for about a decade.

Three years after joining, Schutte took the test and became a paramedic, even though back in those days, he said the old-timers didn’t consider paramedics as real firefighters. That is different today, as most firefighters are also paramedics.

Schutte enjoyed working as paramedic but said the toughest situations were the deaths of children.

“You do all you could then wonder what else you could have done,” he said.

While he loved being a paramedic, Schutte said he never had any designs on climbing the ladder to become the city’s fire chief.

“I really thought I would stay on the squad my entire career,” Schutte said. “But if I wanted to move up the ranks, I had to go to the fire fighting side of the department.”

That decision became important as he and his wife Pam began raising their family of five children.

Schutte said the support from his family throughout his career was critical to the success he experienced. He also praised the talented, dedicated and caring firefighters on the department who he says made his job easier.

He was promoted to lieutenant in 1989 and became a deputy chief in 1996.

Schutte said he talked with then-fire Chief Lyle Moore about taking the test for chief. Moore’s encouragement worked as Schutte was promoted to chief in June 2001. And with the same challenges his predecessor faced, Schutte also dealt with growing demands for fire and EMS service as the city’s finances tightened.

He said at that time there were only two EMS squads in the city and the increased number of runs was making it harder to keep medics from burning out.

Schutte said he worked with the City Council to put a property tax increase on the ballot to pay for a third EMS squad, which voters approved. During his career, the voters also approved two income tax increases for public safety.

He said financial challenges will continue in the coming years, and there will be a need for firefighters to use new technology to provide fire protection in leaner financial times.

Over the past 32 years, Schutte has seen a decrease of nearly a dozen fewer sworn firefighters even though the department has added another fire station.

One significant highlight of his career: No firefighter in his department died in the line of duty.

Schutte played key roles as president of the Butler County Fire Chief’s Association; as a member of the county’s Radio Advisory Board to build the new 800 megahertz radio system; and this past March working with Butler County Probate Judge Randy Rogers to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the fire at the Butler County Courthouse that claimed the lives of three Hamilton firefighters.

As he prepares to retire, other county fire chiefs say they’ll miss Schutte’s leadership.

West Chester Twp. Fire Chief Tony Goller has known Schutte since 1982 when they attended paramedic school together.

“He’s a great asset to the fire service in Butler County,” Goller said. “You always knew where Joe was coming from and his heart was always in the fire service.”

He said Schutte never treated part-time departments differently from the full-time departments.

Middletown Fire Chief Steve Botts said, “I think he’s a solid fire chief and a better human being... He’s a genuine kind of guy.”

“As a young chief, Joe is someone I could look to get advice and he’s someone I’d still call after he retires,” Botts said.

If he had it to do over again, Schutte wouldn’t do anything differently, as he called his career “rewarding.”

“I was able to realize my dream of getting into medicine by providing pre-hospital emergency care,” Schutte said. “I loved showing up, seeing a problem and helping to solve it... You make runs where you can make a difference in someone’s life and that feeling is what kept me going.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4504.