When asked about his favourite part of being a firefighter, Orillia’s fire chief, Michael Clark, recalled a story from his time with Brampton Fire and Emergency Services.
The Toronto Blue Jays had just won their second world series in 1993 when Clark — then a captain — was sent on a call to check out a fire amid tens of thousands gathered to celebrate.
The fire proved to be minor, but Clark distinctly remembers the way the crowd treated his crew as they made their way through the horde.
“As we started to get close, there was just this mass of people, right? And then they started swarming on the trucks, and my driver was going ‘Oh my god, what am I supposed to do about this, Mike?” Clark told OrilliaMatters.
“I said, ‘Don't worry about it, the people are happy,’ so we're shaking their hands and they're climbing all over the trucks.”
For a brief moment, the crowd’s celebration shifted from the Blue Jays to the firefighters, with a pipe band stepping out from a nearby bar to guide Clark’s crew to the fire.
“When we got off the trucks, that crowd cheered us on, and it was like everything was forgotten about the Blue Jays,” he said.
That warm reception is something Clark said he’s run into often over his 40-year career, whether working in Brampton, Owen Sound or, most recently, in Orillia, whether at World Series celebrations or just getting coffee for his crew before work, and it’s something that motivates him to provide outstanding service every day.
“I tell that story over and over again,” said Clark, 62.
“That kind of drunken exuberance that the public displayed then is the way they feel about us every single day, and because they feel that way about us every single day, we owe them — every time we interact with the public, every time we go to a call— we have to come up to that level that they expressed in that moment.”
For his decades of work aspiring to that standard across three different fire departments, Clark was honoured at Monday’s council meeting.
Mayor Don McIsaac thanked Clark for his leadership as well as enhancing safety protocols, improving response times, and implementing new technologies and training programs across a variety of roles throughout the years.
“Chief Clark has provided leadership and mentored hundreds of firefighters over his career, and we are very lucky to have him on our staff in Orillia,” the mayor said. “I'd like to thank Chief Clark for his dedicated service … what an incredible milestone.”
Clark’s career began in Brampton, where he worked through the ranks over 35 years, from roles as a firefighter, captain, positions in the training division, and eventually fire chief.
After a retirement that lasted a single weekend, Clark took a position as deputy chief in Owen Sound, before coming to Orillia to be fire chief a few years ago.
Clark has strong roots in Orillia, with countless ancestors in the area, which drew him back to the city ahead of applying for the fire chief position.
Gill Street, where one of the city’s fire stations is located, is named for Jacob Gill — Clark’s fourth-great grandfather and one of Orillia’s original settlers.
Four decades after beginning his career, Clark said he is still running into surprising and uplifting situations.
Just a few weeks ago, he said his crew responded to two fires in the city, managing to save the people involved on both occasions — despite the fact they were found within the fire area of their homes.
“Up until a few weeks ago, I had never been on a department, to my knowledge, that we had ever rescued a person out of a building where they were in the fire area … and survived,” he said.
“I have certainly been there where we've taken people out of rooms where they were isolated, meaning they were behind a closed door, but not from an actual fire area," he explained.
“Here, within 18 hours, we did it twice.”
However, Clark is reluctant to take personal credit for the work his fire service does, and he directly credits the firefighters here in Orillia for the “exceptional” work they do.
“It makes me feel good about what my people do. I am not going to take credit for what they do — they’re the ones making me proud,” he said. “I tend not to dwell so much on what I do personally. It's what we're doing here as a group, and we do have an exceptional fire service here. We truly, truly do.”