The Westlock Fire Department bid farewell to four firefighters with a total cumulative experience of more than 50 years on Saturday evening.
An informal barbecue and farewell party was held at the Westlock fire hall to honour Don Jewett, Brian Byrnell, Brett Cooper and Tim Keppy.
Town of Westlock fire chief Stuart Koflick said they don’t usually have this big of a group leaving the department at once, especially a group with this many years of service.
Speaking at the barbecue, mayor Ralph Leriger said he had never served as a firefighter himself, but as a power line man for 20 years. Noting he had worked with many firefighters in surrounding communities as a result of his own job, it was with sincerity that he thanked the four for their contributions.
“I think most citizens are probably quite unaware of the hours you put in, on the job, on training, keeping yourselves physically fit,” he said.
“There’s some real sincerity when I say thank you for your contributions to our community and congratulate you on your retirement.”
Don Jewett had the lengthiest record of service, having first joined the department over 26 years ago in 1987 —the same year he and his wife moved to the area.
“It’s been a great 26 years,” he said. “(But) It was finally time. It was a really heartfelt decision to leave.”
Jewett was among the group that was instrumental in the department acquiring its own rescue truck in 1989.
The idea of getting a truck germinated after a group of firefighters watched a rescue truck respond to a local incident in Clyde.
“Four of us got together and said, ‘You know what? We’ve got to do better. We’ve got to get better times,” he said.
Jewett said they initially went to the Wildrose Foundation and applied for a grant. They bought an old AGT (Alberta Government Telephones) line truck for $1 and refurbished it.
Jewett said the Westlock Legion and Rotary Club, as well as the town, was instrumental in getting the project going. However, much of the equipment is the result of hard work by their members.
“A lot of the stuff you see on the trucks has been donated by the members ourselves,” he said.
Jewett noted he has also been serving as a safety officer for about 10 years now and has been helping to deliver the PARTY Program for 15 years.
A lot of things have changed about the role of a firefighter, though Jewett indicated the biggest change is probably the training — particularly the length and frequency of training.
“It’s amazing, when I first started, you had to go to Vermilion for courses,” he said, noting volunteer firefighters had to take off a week to go training.
Now, volunteers have a lot of in-house training, which makes for a lot more busy weekends.
Coupled with all the horrific situations firefighters deal with, it’s getting increasingly hard to recruit volunteers for the department, he indicated.
“It’s harder and harder to get new members, but the guys that have stuck with it and come on board have been absolutely fantastic,” he said. “(The Westlock) guys take pride in their department.”
Brian Byrnell, who was also a peace officer for over two decades, served as a volunteer firefighter for 11 years in Westlock.
He isn’t “retiring” so much as just changing jobs, however. Byrnell is now the new deputy chief in charge of life safety and training for the MD of Lesser Slave River.
Byrnell’s new role involves supervising training programs, doing fire safety inspections, fire investigations and public presentations.
Overall, he supervises 120 firefighters and an area over 12,000 square kilometers in size.
To take up the position, Byrnell said he had to do quite a bit of extra training on weekends, which wasn’t easy. “Everything I learned, I learned here,” he said.
Overall, he said he will miss the “camaraderie and brotherhood” of the Westlock department, especially since he’s not a volunteer anymore.
“I’m a paid guy. You can’t talk to volunteers like you could when you were a volunteer,” he said. “It’s different. It’s lonely at the top.”
Cooper, who had served on the command team during his 11 years as a firefighter, said this was the third fire department he has left, though he did serve with this one longer than the others.
“When you hear sirens go off, my wife still asks me, ‘What’s going on?’ And I say, ‘Honey, I have no idea. I’d like to know, but I don’t.’
“I do miss it. Some of the early-morning fire calls, not so much. But I definitely miss the camaraderie of the guys and girls. It’s been a definite journey,” he said, suggesting he may come back one day.
Keppy, who served on the department for six years, is also leaving the department to focus on his full-time job of being an EMT.
Keppy said it was getting too difficult to serve as both a firefighter and EMT and it was reaching the point where he couldn’t have a day off.
Choosing to leave the department was “one of the toughest decisions I’ve made in my entire life,” he said.
“I real enjoyed the years working with you folks,” he said, adding there isn’t a day that goes by when he sees the pumper truck go by and he isn’t tempted to join them.
