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Regional fire chief takes helm at Athabasca County

Sheldon Schoepp has trained firefighters from all over the world
County fire chief web
Sheldon Schoepp started his new job as Athabasca County Emergency Services regional fire chief Feb. 21.

ATHABASCA - When Sheldon Schoepp went to college, he took courses in golf course management, but the path he eventually ended up taking turned out to be a lot more consequential.

Schoepp got his credentials and went on to manage a golf course after school, but wanted to do something more in the community, so he applied to become a firefighter with the Stony Plain Fire Department and in 2010 he was accepted.

Now, as Athabasca County Emergency Services new regional fire chief, Schoepp oversees 130 volunteer firefighters at seven departments throughout the county. In those 10 years though, he has travelled many miles to get here.

Inspired by a cousin who worked as a firefighter in Calgary, who has since went on to become the first female captain of the city fire department, Schoepp wanted to have an impact on peoples’ lives.

“I just saw that there was a need for people to give back to the community. Any time of the year, people have hard times and need someone to hold their hand and tell them it’s going to get better. I wanted to be that person,” he said.

Schoepp spent six years with the Stony Plain Fire Department, and worked his way up the ranks, absorbing all the training he could, and then a job training other firefighters overseas in Germany piqued his interest and he applied.

Since 2016, he has travelled around the world, stopping on several continents along the way to share the world-class training he received as a first responder in Canada with firefighters from Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

“They decided to hire me on full-time. I had the background in training, I had the background in officer-level investigation and all that stuff,” said Schoepp.

“I trained firefighters from Budapest, Spain, Germany, Poland, Latvia. They would come to us in our training facility in Hamburg … it was mostly on municipal firefighting and aircraft firefighting and industrial firefighting.”

He also trained firefighters in Kenya and Oman. In fact, he would sometimes spend two weeks at a time in Oman, working for an American oil company, as fire chief and training officer for its fire department on the drill site.

“I’ve seen the world and it has been a really good experience for the last five years. I’ve learned lots, I’ve seen lots of people and cultures. It has just been amazing,” said Schoepp.

The excessive travel and having a young family away from their home country took its toll after a few years though and the Schoepps decided it was time to come back to Canada.

“Skype is wonderful, Zoom is wonderful, but it’s not the same as actually sitting down and having dinner with family,” he said.

Schoepp accepted the job offer from the county around in December and took over his new role Feb. 21.

“So far it has been really, really good. As with everything, there’s going to be a learning curve and outgoing fire chief Steve Hamilton has been excellent,” he said.

Schoepp said he looks forward to being a part of the community and reminds residents, the department is always looking for newcomers to bring into the fold and to train. He would also like to explore a junior firefighting program that could offer high school students a glimpse into the profession.

“It’s just a matter of getting your foot in the door, and seeing where it leads you.”

 

Chris Zwick,TownandCountryToday.com

 

 

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