With a career spanning more than 20 years, it took time for the town's new fire chief, Tom Raeburn, to pin down a favourite moment.
“It’s got to be when I got the call from Human Resources telling me I was hired as a career firefighter,” he said. “That was my greatest memory. Once I realized how much I loved firefighting as a volunteer, it was a long struggle to get on with a department where I grew up and where I wanted to be.”
After several years as the town’s deputy chief, Raeburn was appointed the new chief July 25.
Raeburn never had intentions to make it a career, even though his father volunteered in Cookstown when he was young.
Raised in Stroud, Raeburn worked in the family electrical and heating business before joining as a volunteer in 1995.
“I ran that business with my dad for awhile and a buddy of mine — Fred Black, actually he’s on shift today — encouraged me to try out for the volunteers. He said it was a great way to give back to the community and meet nice people.”
Raeburn liked the team atmosphere and the thrill of the unknown.
“It was exciting when the pager went off in the middle of the night — whether it was a small grass fire, a house on fire or someone trapped in a vehicle on Hwy. 400, there’s an adrenaline rush for sure.”
He applied to be a full-time firefighter and got that famous phone call in 2000.
For years, he worked alongside Craig Hofland, who is the town’s first firefighter to die ‘in the line of duty’ after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2007.
It is one of the cancers recognized by the province as a work-related illness, covered by WSIB.
“Craig was well known in the community, a long-term firefighter. He was new when I started and I worked with him for 13 years.”
Touched by Hofland’s struggles with cancer, Raeburn and firefighters John Chiarotto and Ryan Houlieff enrolled in the Ride to Conquer Cancer, a 200-kilometre bike ride from Toronto to Niagara Falls.
Raeburn continued to participate in the ride for a decade.
“It was a worthwhile cause. I’ve lost aunts and uncles, grandparents to cancer,” he said. “I’ve had friends battle cancer — some successful, some not.”
While he’s cut back on the long-distance bike riding at the moment, Raeburn is still making time for his other passion in life: his family.
When not working, he enjoys golfing or fishing and travelling with wife Alexandra and their two teenaged children.
Making time for fun is part of the balance of being a firefighter, he said adding the job has changed.
“It used to be you would respond to the scene and put the fire out,” he said.
Now firefighters are involved in their own safety training, along with educating public about fire safety.
With 28 staff, one trainer, one fire prevention officer and 104 volunteers under his watch, Raeburn won’t be making immediate changes after taking over from former chief Jon Pegg.
Link to original article in Simcoe.com: Innisfil’s new fire chief has a long history here