.png;w=960)
SUNDRE — The wide variety of skills developed alongside the breadth of experience gained in service to a community fire department can open unexpected doors to fulfilling career paths.
“I joined the department as a junior firefighter through the high school program,” said Dan Corbett, Sundre Fire Department fire prevention officer.
“Initially, that sort of got me interested in it,” said Corbett, who was born in Calgary but largely grew up around Sundre, about volunteering to serve as a paid on-call firefighter. “But I didn’t really develop a passion for it until I started responding to calls. What really kind of stuck with me I guess was just being able to serve the community and helping people.”
But beyond the satisfaction derived in serving the community, Corbett added during an interview at the hall that the time he’s invested with the fire department has introduced in his life a lot of variety.
“You’re constantly trying to learn and progress,” he said. “So, it gives you a moving target in your life.”
Corbett spoke with the Albertan alongside Nicole Toth, safety and assistant training officer with 10 years of service at the department, who was initially driven by curiosity when she decided to join the department.
“I didn’t really know anyone here,” said Toth, who originally hails from Vancouver Island near Victoria.
Her introduction to Sundre in 2012 was as a part of the clean-up effort in response to the Plains Midstream oil spill in the Red Deer River. Along the way, she met some of the fire department's members, who extended to her an invitation to check out the hall during a training night and she quickly became hooked.
“I just got interested more as a young woman kind of on my own. It was kind of nice to go play with tools and big trucks,” she said, adding that serving with the fire department offers a whole new perspective that people don’t otherwise get a chance to experience.
“It just felt empowering to be able to do that kind of stuff. Then you kind of get sucked into it; you like the feeling of helping out,” she said.
“And now I’m 10 years in and I’m still here,” she said with a laugh. “Turned out to be something that I really liked.”
As individual firefighters progress, they will over time also have the opportunity to discover a specialized niche within the overall service, said Toth, who for her part has decided to pursue technical rescues.
“You get to do a little bit of everything. But if there’s something you really love, you can pursue it,” she said, adding the repertoire of knowledge and experience accrued over time makes a resume even more appealing to potential employers.
“Even though this is volunteer, it leads very well into career aspirations,” she said. “It just really kind of opens up a lot of opportunities.”
Doors could even open on the international stage, she added.
The National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) standards and professional-level certified qualifications are recognized around the globe, she said.
“We train to those levels and get those seals and standards for our training and our members,” she said. “Before, we might have done in-house training, but we never did get official certificates that you could use to get an actual job at a city fire department.”
Toth said she previously completed her training for a certificate course in Texas, and added other members used to occasionally cross-train with the Olds Fire Department to obtain their standard baseline for professional firefighting.
“And now, we try and offer that for our new recruits,” she said.
So, although there were some members in the past that had achieved a higher level of certification, the Sundre Fire Department has ramped up that effort.
“We’ve brought that up from a handful of firefighters on the roster, to the majority of the roster now has their NFPA 1001 qualification,” said Corbett. “The training tempo has definitely increased a lot over the last year and a half and we’ve built up some good momentum.”
Prior to the restructuring at the fire department that led to the municipality hiring a full-time fire chief, Toth said the department had done its best to provide professional training.
“It’s just different now, the courses we’re offering,” she said.
Both Corbett and Toth encourage anyone who has ever so much as had a fleeting thought about joining the fire department to consider dropping by at the fire hall either during regular business hours or weekly Wednesday night training sessions.
“Come down and say hi. We’re always open to giving tours,” said Corbett, adding there’s room for just about everybody regardless of whether they want to perform support roles like controlling traffic or more active tasks such as facing structure fires head on.
“You might be surprised,” added Toth. “It might lead you down a path that you never really thought about before.”
In a written statement, deputy fire Chief Alex Clews said joining a small town fire hall is among the most impactful ways to serve one’s community.
“The Sundre Fire Department offers professional industry standard training and qualifications to our firefighters, as well as advanced specialized courses,” reads a portion of his statement.
“We get involved with our community through fire prevention, education and Fire Smart projects. We are a fast-paced, driven, community-oriented department that responds to a wide variety of emergencies including structure fires, motor vehicle crashes, backcountry rescues, swift water rescues, ice rescues, wildland fires, and medical assists within the Town of Sundre and Mountain View County as well as into our neighbouring counties.”
Although the department officially conducts two recruitment drives every year — one in the fall and another in the spring — anyone who is interested in volunteering as a firefighter for a paid, on-call position can inquire about joining at any time.
