Franklin County’s Tim Hardy enjoys being outside year-round.
FARMINGTON – Tim Hardy loves being outdoors, taking in the rural environment, the setting, the landscape.
“I’m pretty simple. I don’t need an awful lot. I like the basics of life,” Hardy, 52, said Friday.
Hardy is the Franklin County Emergency Management Agency director and a Farmington Fire Rescue deputy fire chief.
“I love being outdoors, snowmobiling, deer hunting, boating,” Hardy said. It’s relaxing and a chance to enjoy the peacefulness of the outdoors, he said.
The Farmington man said he likes spending time with his wife, Vicki Hardy, of 28 years, family and friends.
The couple cruise around Clearwater Pond in Industry in their boat and spend hours working around the outside at their camp on the pond and their home.
“She enjoys outdoor flower gardening,” Hardy said. “She has some real nice flower gardens at both camp and home.”
He, too, likes gardening and yardwork.
“I enjoy firefighting. It’s hard to explain,” he said. “It gets in your blood. I like working with the public. I enjoy helping and assisting people. In these types of jobs, that’s what it is all about.”
Hardy’s uncle, Duane Hardy, was a firefighter. When they were young, he and his cousins, Rick and David Hardy, would go to the fire station to see the trucks.
All the hoopla, the firetrucks and the sirens – and back then firefighters were able to ride on the back of the trucks – attracted the younger boys, including himself, to the fire station, he said. When he joined the department 28 years ago, he also was able to ride on the back of the truck.
That practice is prohibited these days, back then it was just part of being a firefighter.
Prior to taking the job as emergency management director, Hardy was self-employed. He operated Hardy’s Tire and Service full-time for 19 years.
The job as emergency director is taking more hours than expected. What was supposed to be 32 hours a week has turned into more than 40 hours. He goes to training sessions and emergency management meetings around the state, as well taking online courses to enhance his knowledge for the job.
Hardy’s computer mouse rests on a mouse pad that features a picture of Dylan, his 8-month-old grandson, who’s the son of his daughter, Tammy, and son-in-law, Rob. Hardy said he’s already started to spoil Dylan and anticipates spoiling the baby that his son, Tim, and daughter-in-law, Bett, are expecting in April.
Family and friends, Hardy emphasizes, are important in his life.
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