The South End’s new fire chief said he can’t wait to get started. And he doesn’t mind the rain.

“I’ve been in Jackson so long, it was time to look for other opportunities,” Harry L. “Rusty” Palmer said Thursday. “It will be great to get out of the snow.”

Palmer, the current fire chief of the Jackson Hole-Teton County, Wyo. fire department, agreed this week to a three-year contract with Island County District 3 to replace Chief Dan Stout, who retires in February.

“I have some new ideas,” Palmer said, “and we’ll have to see what works and what doesn’t. But first, I’ll have to keep up.”

Palmer, 57, was in the area this week meeting with district staff and volunteers. He said he’ll finish his duties in Jackson Hole on

Dec. 31, and join District 3 on Jan. 9.

Palmer and his wife spent the latter part of the week house hunting. They were to return to Wyoming on Sunday.

“We’re just happy to have him here,” Kenon Simmons,District 3 commission chairman, said Thursday. “I feel he’ll be a fantastic fit for the community.”

Simmons said Palmer’s contract calls for a starting annual salary of $95,500. Stout’s salary this year is $97,200.

Stout, 66, is retiring after 43 years in various fire services, the past five with the South End district.

Palmer said that although the Jackson Hole department is slightly larger than District 3, the two share “surprising similarities.”

He said the Wyoming department has 28 paid personnel and 125 volunteers. District 3 has six full-time employees and about 100 volunteers.

Jackson Hole has a service area of 110 square miles spread throughout a 4,500-square-mile county. Fire District 3 covers about 66 square miles from the south end of the island north to Classic Road between Freeland and Greenbank.

Like District 3, Palmer’s current department operates six stations, and serves a predominantly tourist-oriented bedroom community.

He said the biggest difference between the two departments is that his Wyoming staff battles a lot more forest fires.

Palmer said the records of both departments when it comes to hazardous materials, structure fires and property loss “are about the same.”

But new to him will be the oversight of a paramedic program and a marine rescue unit. He said the Jackson Hole department operates the area’s ambulance service, and there was little need for marine rescue in land-locked, high-altitude Wyoming.

Another difference is that in Jackson Hole, Palmer answered equally to county and city governments. On South Whidbey, he’ll answer to a three-member commission.

“It’ll be a challenge,” he said. “I’m anxious to get started.”

Palmer has spent his entire 33-year fire-service career with the Jackson Hole department. He started as a volunteer, and after 10 years joined the paid staff and began moving up.

He was fire marshal for 13 years and EMS director for 19 years.

He’s been chief at Jackson Hole since 2006.

Palmer and his wife, Susan Prentiss, have four grown children and five grandchildren, and the couple enjoy all manner of outdoor activities, he said.

And both are big on community involvement.

“I intend to immerse myself in the community as best I can,” Palmer said.

He said he and his wife for some time have eyed the Washington and Oregon coasts as potential retirement locations, and when the District 3 job came up, he jumped at it, to get him closer to his goal.

He said his dream has been to someday “have a cabin in the woods next to the ocean.”

Palmer acquired the name “Rusty,” he said, “back when my hair was actually red.”

“I absolutely love the fire service, as horrendous as it can be sometimes,” Palmer said. “It really gets my blood going.”

He praised the volunteer system, and called it an absolute necessity in the modern world.

“In rural America, a fire service can’t survive without volunteers,” Palmer said.

“Their only paycheck is time,” he added. “We need to be efficient, and provide them with the training and equipment they need.”

He said that when he started in the fire service, back in the ’70s, volunteers were trained to “surround and drown.”

“Today, they have to know so much more,” he said.

“Volunteers make the ultimate commitment to their community, putting their lives on the line,” he added. “I want them to ooze pride.”

Palmer’s selection was the culmination of a nationwide campaign by an executive-search firm hired by the district.

Palmer said District 3 and the work done by Stout and his staff has been “top-notch.”

“It’s a dynamic organization, and I’m anxious to help them build on their success,” he said.