Jim Payne was Wheat Ridge's fire chief, but he was never the boss.

"He was a fireman's fireman," said longtime friend and retired firefighter Howard Jaidinger.

"There was nothing he'd expect someone else to do that he wouldn't do himself," he said, whether it was cooking spaghetti at a fundraiser or teaching "redshirts" — volunteer recruits — how to tie knots.

After a nearly five-month fight to recover from injuries sustained in a fall from a ladder at his home April 4, James Payne died of pneumonia Tuesday at Collier Hospice Center at Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge. He was 53.

Mr. Payne began work with the Wheat Ridge Fire Protection District in 1989 as a volunteer. After being voted in as volunteer chief by the firefighters, he became the first paid fire chief in Wheat Ridge history in 2001. He oversaw a force of more than 100 volunteer firefighters.

"I worked for him for five years, and I couldn't have had a better boss," said Doug Saba, Wheat Ridge's acting fire chief.

"He was the true definition of a chief. He always listened," he said.

Mr. Payne was born Jan. 3, 1955 in Girard, Pa., and lived in Cortez and Tucson. He attended George Washington High School in Denver and graduated from Arvada High School in 1973. For 17 years before becoming fire chief, Payne was a machine designer at Golden's Coors Ceramics.

That's where he met and fell in love with with his wife, Tammie.

"He was just the nicest guy I ever met," said Tammie Payne, who married Jim in 1987.

"I knew from the start that he loved his work. I knew the only day he'd be home for sure was Sunday for church and family," she said, laughing at the memory.

He was a member of the Optimists and other Wheat Ridge organizations, "and he made almost every single City Council meeting," she said.

Other survivors include his children from his first marriage, Thomas and Melanie and stepson Michael Vecchiarelli; six grandchildren; his parents, Bob and Marge Payne; and brothers Ben Payne and John Payne.