They signed up to serve with the Olds Fire Department seven years apart but they shared the same reason for joining: Giving back to their community.The department said farewell to Brian Hoschka, who served for 37 years, and Gordon Leeson, who served for 30 years, this spring.Hoschka, 58, who retired after reaching the rank of deputy fire chief, said “heritage” played a part in pushing him to join the department in September 1977.“My dad was on the department too and I used to hang around there quite a bit,” he said.As he was working for an oil company in town at the time, he also wanted to get involved in the community and, after exploring a number of options, settled on becoming a firefighter.“I thought this was probably the best way to go because it's something where you never quit learning, it's always advantageous and brings on new challenges as well.”Hoschka said he still remembers his first call, a tanker truck rollover near Sundre when the mercury had dipped to -35 C and he and two other department members nearly froze.“I got back and I said it's a good thing this is volunteer because you couldn't pay me enough to do this,” he said.It was a short time later that he saw how the people of the town of Olds could come together in a difficult situation when a massive blaze wiped out a good portion of the town's downtown core in November 1978.He said he could remember not only firefighters from Olds, Red Deer and Calgary battling the blaze but the wives of firefighters and residents from throughout the town pitching in during the disaster, showing Hoschka “that kind of level of commitment that everybody delivers without being asked to do in a small community.”In recent years, a number of changes in Hoschka's life helped him come to the conclusion he would not be able to provide the “commitment level” he felt was necessary to continue serving with the department.Working as an oilfield consultant, Hoschka was commuting between Olds and Calgary and he wanted to reduce that distance.Therefore his family moved to Airdrie in April.Secondly, Hoschka had injured his shoulder in a snowmobiling accident last year and just had surgery this month to repair the damage.It will take him at least six months to recover from the procedure.So, Hoschka hung up his helmet and put away his boots and coveralls at the Olds fire hall for the last time on April 30.But he said he'll hang on to many memories from his time with the department, especially the knowledge that he and his fellow firefighters gave so much back to their community.“You touch people's lives in a much different way,” Hoschka said. “Helping somebody through an incident or an accident that you can actually see something tangible.”He added one of the most important things he took away from his service with the department was the strong “work ethic” shared among Olds' firefighters.“As a volunteer organization, I would place it with just about any full-time department as far as the commitment level,” he said.He never would have lasted through 37 years of service, however, without support and understanding from outside the fire hall.“I just couldn't have done it without the commitment from my family as well, too, and the support. I left my wife at the grocery store and restaurants several times (when responding to call-outs),” he said.Leeson, 65, who said he'll have no problem staying busy with his real estate job, hot rod restoration hobby and farm duties, has a very simple answer for why he decided to retire.“I just realized that I was too young to be old and too old to be young,” he said, adding he came to the decision during a recent evening of training where younger members were geared up for an exercise at the department's training facility and some of the more senior members were back at the hall.“I was kind of standing there like the fat kid who didn't get picked for the soccer team. And I said to myself, Gord, you know, the time has come. The younger guys are coming on and the older guys are starting to leave and maybe rather than staying and being old and getting in the way, the time had come.”The reality of his retirement didn't hit him until his last training session but he said it would have been even more difficult had he left while the department was still based at the old fire hall.“It was a little easier being in the new hall. I hadn't nested there. Whereas the old hall was home.”Leeson said he has seen an evolution in how fires are fought from the time he felt his first desire to be a firefighter as a boy in Didsbury while chasing fire trucks on his bicycle to his last call-out in March.There have been improvements in uniforms and training, and firefighters no longer jump on the back of moving fire trucks.“It's all changed,” Leeson said. “We don't ride in the backs of fire trucks. You tend to lose guys that way.”He has also seen firefighters become more professional with better training.“It used to be, grab a hose and squirt the water on the fire. Now, you have procedures to follow, which improve your safety and everybody else's safety.”His reason for committing to the fire department for so many years comes from a personal philosophy.“I've always preached to my kids that if you're going to take from your community, you have to give back. The good Lord's blessed me with the ability to deal with the harsher side of life be it fires or accidents,” he said.His son took that message to heart and followed his father into the world of firefighting, although Leeson encouraged him “to be your own man,” so he joined departments in Didsbury and Calgary.Although Leeson has seen some terrible sights in his career, he feels accidents happen “through fate or carelessness,” neither of which had anything to do with his job.“My job is if they're deceased, you get them out with as much dignity as you can, if they're alive, as quickly and safely as you can and dispatch them,” he said. “And I will not take ownership for the accident. I leave it there. It can get personal, it can be people you know. I have done that. But you leave it there because you can't take it home with you.”The department said goodbye to Hoschka and Leeson at a members' campout on the May long weekend where both men received bronze axes emblazoned with the department's crest.Lorne Thompson, the department's chief, said along with the commitment and teamwork Hoschka and Leeson contributed to the department during their years of service, the two men also gave up a great amount of their time.“Time away from their families and their careers by providing an essential service to their community,” he said in an email. “I can't even guess how many hours they both put in at fire calls and how many times they left their wives standing at a grocery store checkout to respond to a call.”Thompson added that when Hoschka and Leeson were honoured for their service last month, their spouses were recognized as well.“This department would not function without the support and understanding of the volunteer firefighter families. Most people don't realize the impact that being a volunteer firefighter can have on a family. If it wasn't for family support, the community wouldn't have volunteers like Brian and Gord protecting them.”As for having to wish two department veterans farewell, Thompson said it was difficult for him personally to see them off.“I've been with the Olds Fire Department just over 10 years and there are many members still active at the department that were here before me,” he said. “Whenever a member retires that was here when I arrived it is difficult as I value the experience they were able to share with me. Brian and Gord were two of the longer serving members. Combined they contributed 67 years to the department and more importantly to the community. Although Brian and Gord are no longer active members of the fire department, they will always be alumni and welcome at the station anytime.”Leeson said he knows there are a “great group of guys” taking the reins from him and Hoschka and now whenever he hears a siren, he thinks, “Have at 'er boys.”[email protected]
