Michael Quill is hanging up his fire ax.

The Auburn Fire Department chief retired Friday after more than three decades of service.

“I hear from retirees that they don't know how they got anything done when they had a job because they are so busy now,” he said. “Hopefully I'm like that.”

Quill served as fire chief for 11 years and began working at the Auburn station nearly 33 years ago.

When he announced his plans for retirement in May, his workers tried to talk him out of it and encouraged him stay, he said.

Quill began considering retirement during the city's tumultuous budget process, during which officials criticized the amount of overtime paid to firefighters.

The city council has discussed the possibility of having one director of public safety rather than fill his vacant position.

David Butler, who will head TLC Emergency Medical Services when it takes over ambulance service in Auburn, said he will miss working with Quill. He always turned to the former Marine to get the “best advice.”

“What a loss to the community,” he said. “He's always had the city's interest at heart. When I heard he was retiring, I was devastated.”

Quill spent his last day saying farewell to firefighters, community members and friends who came to see him in his bare-shelved office.

No one can estimate the number of lives Quill has saved or touched in some way, but two people have always stayed with him through the year.

In his early years on the job, Quill and his lieutenant rushed into a burning house and pulled out two young girls. His thoughts have often drifted to the girls, who were 3 or 4 in the late 1970s.

“I wonder what happened to them, where are they now,” he said.

Quill had joined the force a few years earlier after leaving the Marine Corps. His father worked as a firefighter and his mother encouraged him to take the civil service exam.

As the oldest of nine children, he had plenty of practice commanding larger groups. Until Friday, 80 employees reported to Quill.

Now, he will have to take orders from his wife. His first plan is to work on her honey-do-list, which has accumulated tasks from the past 30 years, he said with a chuckle.

After that, he has no set projects; he wants to just “coast.”

Staff writer Jessica Soule may be reached at 253-5311 ext. 267 or jessica.soule@lee.net