Scott was a truly selfless soul who received the most satisfaction by helping others. He died October 23, 2020, after battling an aggressive work-related cancer. Scott dreamed of becoming a firefighter since he was a young child. When Scott was about four years old, there was a fire on a neighbor’s property, and Scott donned his red plastic fireman helmet and plastic Scott Air-Pack and proceeded to respond to the fire.

In 1986, Scott moved with his family to Chugiak, Alaska, where he joined the Chugiak Volunteer Fire Department as a junior firefighter when he was 16 years old. During this time, Scott also worked for the Division of Forestry, State of Alaska, fighting wildfire. Scott was an avid outdoor enthusiast, and working outside fighting fire was a dream. While working for the state, Scott earned his helicopter pilot license to become a helitack firefighter. In 2001, he joined the Anchorage Fire Department.

Scott had a heart for giving and for sharing his passions for boating, fishing, hunting, and fire training and safety. One of his favorite places to go out fishing was on the Knik River, and he loved to take along friends and family at any chance. He loved to share his knowledge as an outdoorsman. A favorite was teaching during Fire Prevention Week at the elementary schools.

Shortly before Scott’s diagnosis and death, he had become an integral part of the Soldier’s Heart Program. It quickly became a passion for him to help his friends and peers with service-related trauma for military and first responders.

Scott took pride in his desire to help others and had a true servant’s heart whether on or off-duty. On a trip to Maui, Scott spent an hour searching for a woman’s lost sunglasses at the bottom of the ocean (He found them!), as well as helped an elderly woman out of the water when he noticed her struggling in the surf.

As his wife, I am sad that his life was cut short, as ours, together, had just started. Family and friends who knew Scott said he had become a changed person the last few years before his death. He was at his happiest. This provides much comfort to his wife, Jennifer; his son, MacKenzie; daughters, Kaylee and Krystina; parents, Ruth and Bill; and many, many other family and friends.

Jeff Bayless, a fourth generation Alaskan, grew up in Copper Center near the small regional hub, Glennallen. From childhood on, he had countless adventures in the wilderness.

As a teenager, Jeff decided that what mattered most to him was helping people. He trained as an EMT and earned a bachelor’s degree from Alaska Bible College in Glennallen. After graduation, he attended the Paramedic Training Program at Oregon Health Sciences University, where he met his wife, Gail. They were married for almost 26 years.

Jeff began his career practicing paramedicine in Tillamook, Oregon, with a hospital-based service. There he was honed into a skilled, intuitive, cutting-edge paramedic. He loved the work. While in Tillamook, he became an RN and then returned to Alaska, working in ICU and volunteering as a paramedic with the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. His next step was EMS training coordinator, after which Jeff finally achieved his dream of being a paramedic with the Anchorage Fire Department.

Eventually, AFD’s EMS and fire services integrated, and he became a firefighter. Jeff found that he loved firefighting and turned his hunger for learning in that direction also. Over the years he certified in numerous specialties in EMS and fire and enjoyed teaching many of them. He progressed up the fire service ranks to senior captain. Jeff served a series of stations as senior captain, pouring his heart into each one.

Over his lifetime he saved countless lives. As an older teenager, Jeff and his buddy happened upon a flash flood in the Yukon that swept vehicles off the road. Using their wilderness savvy, they roped up and rescued every person. Decades ago, unbeknownst to him, his casual words of encouragement kept a young woman from fulfilling her secret intention of suicide, and she went on to live a satisfying life. Early one morning as an Anchorage paramedic, Jeff and his partner drove by an unreported apartment house arson fire that blocked all the exits. They called it in and, using a ladder and blanket, began rescuing the residents. He saved several people from rivers, once as part of AFD’s whitewater rescue team in a wild adventure that earned them an American Red Cross Wilderness Rescue Award.

Jeff collapsed and died suddenly toward the end of a strenuous training exercise, closing out a fruitful life that had been enriched by his faith in God. He was 51. He is survived by his wife, mother, fathers, sisters, brothers, and grandfather. He spent his life simply doing what he loved, completely engaged, lost in the moment. Without any consciousness of the impact his own life was having, he left behind a great legacy of life, encouragement, accomplishments, and friendship.