Putting Out Fires…Literally

After work on Mondays, Tim Groen, corporate service manager for Swish Maintenance Ltd. of Whitby, Ontario, Canada, a manufacturing and distribution company, leaves work to go to his “second job.” But this is not your typical moonlighting experience. Tim reports to the City of Kawartha Lakes, Ontario fire station.

Monday night is training night at the fire station, and Tim is a volunteer firefighter. He started volunteering in 1999, and in addition to being on call for fire and rescue duties, he also spends 12 to 15 hours per month in training.

“Firefighting allows me to have the best of both worlds, because I have my regular job, and my firefighter job,” says Tim. “Volunteer firefighters don’t do it for the money. We volunteer because we love it. It’s a great mix of people, and in a rural situation, you work side-by-side with your neighbors and family members.”

About 40 to 45 percent of the calls are car accidents, 20 percent are fires, and the remaining are medical and other public assistance calls. Before Tim was able to start fighting fires, he took a 40-hour firefighting training course, and another 40-hour course in emergency medical services.

The first time he crawled into a burning building was an exhilarating experience for Tim.

“I recall saving a bunch of toys, including a tricycle, and that made a young girl very happy,” he says. “I had lots of emotions with that first fire.”

In addition to his firefighting duties, Tim teaches in a fire service program at the local community college.

“I teach the students, most of whom are from Toronto, about rural firefighting and forestry firefighting,” he says.

There are many different ways to fight a fire, according to Tim.

“In rural areas, there is a lot of weather science involved and different techniques are used,” he says. “The water comes from ponds, creeks and lakes, and is drawn from the bodies of water with portable gas-operated pumps. If a firefighter can’t get the pump running or set up fast enough, the other firefighters at the end of the hose line don’t have water. In a city, it’s not so complicated. They just tie the hose into a fire hydrant.”

The nature of firefighting differs by season, he says.

“In the spring, we see grass fires. In the summer, I get poison ivy at least five or six times. In the fall, we have lots of chimney fires. Then the snow flies, and we end up with car accidents. There are two major highways here, and we’re very well trained in auto extrication,” says Tim.

Tim also mentioned that one of the highways is a well-traveled route on weekends to vacation cottages.

“We call Friday and Sunday nights the ‘Cottage 500’ as people race to get to their cottages,” he says.

Firefighting is a brotherhood. When Tim travels, he visits fire halls to meet other firefighters. He was in San Antonio recently, and talked with firefighters about the differences between fighting fires in Canada, having to deal with heavy ice conditions and temperatures of minus 20, compared to fighting fires in Texas during 99-degree heat.

Gretchen Roufs, an 18-year janitorial supply industry veteran, owns a marketing and public relations company in San Antonio. To suggest someone you think should be featured in “Freetime,” contact her at Gretchen@GretchenRoufs.com.