Over four decades as a firefighter, Puslinch Fire Chief Robert Gordon has seen some pretty horrible things, including a fiery crash on Highway 401 in mid-September that claimed the life of a London man.
“That’s about as worse as it can get,” Gordon told Puslinch council recently. “You see one of those in your lifetime and that’s enough.”
And yet Gordon, and thousands of firefighters like him, keep coming back to work, despite what, at times, can be a draining and emotionally disturbing job.
“Overall, it’s been good,” he said of his 40-plus years of service with the Puslinch department.
Along with fellow Puslinch firefighter Donald Stewart, he is one of only two active firefighters in Wellington County with four decades of service. Mapleton firefighter Ray Ellis, who was unavailable for comment, retired earlier this year after serving 40-plus years.
“It doesn’t seem that long, but it soon goes by,” said Gordon.
He and Stewart are the only remaining original members of the Puslinch Fire Department, which officially started on Jan. 1, 1969, after four months of training.
“We were supposedly ready to go,” Stewart recalled with a laugh of the basic training provided for the department’s 35 original members.
A lifelong Puslinch resident, Stewart says he decided to join the fire department “Because I wanted to serve the community.”
Perhaps the biggest change over the last 40 years is the volume of calls – the department now responds to about 400 per year – and the type of responses.
“Thank heavens there’s not too many fires,” Stewart said, noting there are tons of motor vehicle collisions and ambulance assist calls.
The other big change, is the training required nowadays.
“You’ve got to have the training up to date now,” he said, noting firefighters today train at least two hours per week. “You have to be on top of it.”
Gordon agreed education is perhaps the biggest change, noting the department only concentrated on putting out fires in the beginning, but now its training includes extrication and many other aspects of the job. Gordon, who says he joined the department in 1969 because it seemed “interesting” and “That was the thing to do in those days,” says neither he nor Stewart have plans for immediate retirement.
“I plan to hang around a little longer,” Gordon said. “Don and I have said we want to try to make it to 45 years.”
Both men laugh when asked if they ever thought they would make it to four decades.
“No, I did not – that’s for sure,” Stewart said.
Like most firefighters, it’s the camaraderie and simple love of the job that keeps them coming back.
“You gotta be like a family, because you have to watch each others’ back,” Stewart said.
