Longtime Commissioner Cheryl Engle Retires, Central Whidbey Honors Service

Cheryl Engle, a familiar figure in Central Whidbey civic life, stepped down from the Central Whidbey Island Fire and Rescue board of commissioners on December 16, 2025 after 36 years of service. The department held an open house at Station 53 to mark her retirement, where leaders and neighbors gathered to pay tribute to a commissioner whose background in education and farm management brought an uncommon mix of patience and financial competence to local fire governance.

At the event Chief Jerry Helm offered formal thanks to Engle for her long service. “Cheryl, from the bottom of all of our hearts, there’s nothing that we can do or say to express our true gratitude for what you’ve done for our organization, our community and myself,” Helm said. The department presented Engle with a sweater and a commemorative shadowbox and announced that the training room at Station 53 will be renamed the Cheryl Engle Training Room in recognition of her contributions.

Engle arrived on the board as a former elementary school teacher with no firefighting experience, persuaded to run by a fellow commissioner. Her practical skills handling financial statements for the Engle Family Farm proved immediately valuable. “People don’t know a thing about spreadsheets,” she said, underscoring how everyday fiscal competence helped the board navigate budgets and capital needs over decades.

Those decades included structural changes to firefighting in Central Whidbey. Chief Helm credited Engle and the community with guiding multiple small and disconnected departments into a single, more unified organization. “Through Cheryl’s leadership and through the community has really brought all of those seven stations into basically one department,” Helm said. That consolidation has implications for coordination, training and resource allocation for Island County residents who rely on timely emergency response.

Moved by the recognition, Engle requested a box of tissues. “I loved what I do, and I know I’m going to miss it,” she said, reflecting the personal nature of long term volunteer civic work in island communities. As the board moves forward, Engle’s legacy of stewardship and practical governance will shape decisions about staffing, training and finances that directly affect public safety across Central Whidbey.