There’s a new fire chief in town but he's no stranger to the community.
Steven Goode is Guelph’s new fire chief after serving as deputy chief since 2017. He fills the role after former chief Brian Arnold retired last month.
Goode grew up in Puslinch but spent much of his youth in Guelph, where he attended Centennial CVI for high school. In 1994, he came across an advertisement in a Puslinch newspaper for the fire department and thought he and his friend should give it a try.
He fell in love with the public service.
“You never know what the call is going to be. It's never the same. Sometimes you don't get the outcomes that you're hoping for, but other times you do, and when you do, it's so very rewarding,” said Goode.
During his first year as a volunteer firefighter in Puslinch he took every available course he could and then in 1998, he started working for the fire department in Cambridge. He worked there for 22 years and left as a captain before joining the Guelph Fire Department.
“I've done every division that there is, and I never felt satisfied with one. I just wanted to keep growing my knowledge and getting involved. But I always wanted to be on the trucks,” said Goode.
At one point he was considered a ‘triple hatter’. For about six months he was at three different fire departments. He was the fire chief for the Town of Erin, deputy fire chief for the Township of Puslinch and the City of Cambridge.
He credits his family for getting him this far. He and his wife Holly have four children Trenton, Devin, Ryan and Madison, whose ages range from 16 to 30.
When he's off duty, Goode enjoys camping and fishing with his family — though even at the gym he's often stopped mid-workout by friendly conversations.
He remembers one Christmas, his family was just about to start celebrating when he was paged to a fire. He came home six hours later with an injured eye, feeling bad he was away for so long. But his family hadn’t opened a single gift until he got back.
Early in his career in Cambridge, he remembers two children under the age of five who died in a fire. There were 17 lighters and matches in reach of the children, he said.
This impacted him personally and professionally.
“It's a long lasting memory that … once you see it, you can't unsee it,” said Goode.
He can be overprotective of his children sometimes, whether it’s crossing the road or leaving them home alone because of the impact of his job.
In 2024, Guelph had six fatalities in five different fires.
To have that many fatalities in a municipality this size is not common, he said. To put it into perspective he said there were 111 fire fatalities in Ontario last year and Guelph had six.
“What's alarming to me is that people are not protecting themselves like they should be with smoke alarms and CO alarms,” said Goode.
After the first fatality last year the department did a blitz in the area and about 30 per cent of the residences surrounding the home that burned lacked working smoke or carbon monoxide alarms.
Last year the department attended 663 homes, and were able to inspect 400, 22 per cent of the inspections were not compliant.
“So that's disheartening to me, and especially when you got vulnerable occupants, like children can't help themselves. Seniors can't help themselves. They rely on people to be responsible.
For homes found non-compliant, the department installs working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and charges residents for the cost of the devices.
Year over year, call volumes remain relatively steady with slight increases — from 10,185 calls in 2023 to 10,829 calls in 2024. So far this year r there have been 7,028 calls.
He recognizes the hard work his staff does.
“They truly do care about the community,” said Goode.
He wants to sustain and grow his relationship with the staff and community in his role as chief.