From fatal car crashes to stubborn structural fires, Deputy Fire Chief Don Smith has seen just about everything over his 30-year career as a firefighter in Jasper.
Born and raised in Jasper, Smith first joined the volunteer fire department in the spring of 1985, about a year after his father joined.
“The more I thought about it and watched him when his pager would go off and he’d go out to these calls, it just sort of clicked that this would be a good thing to do if I was going to hang around Jasper for awhile,” said Smith.
As a bright-eyed 20-year-old, Smith was one of the youngest recruits at the time, splitting his time volunteering with the fire department and working as a mechanic for various garages in town.
Three years later, in 1988, he was hired by Parks Canada and would remain there for the next 10 years, holding a number of positions, including working as an information technology specialist just as the tech boom took off.
In 1992 he bought a house in Hinton and briefly resigned from his position with the volunteer fire department, only to return to Jasper 11 months later.
“The funny thing is, when I came back, Greg [Van Tighem], who’s the fire chief now, was trying to join and they had told him they were going to hire somebody and then I showed up and said, ‘I want my spot back’ so they punted him back down the line and he had to wait another three or four months until they had another spot for him,” said Smith, with a chuckle.
“He still bugs me about that.”
Back in Jasper, Smith continued working for Parks Canada until 1998, when he decided it was time to turn his attention to his burgeoning computer company, Pro-Tech.
“At that point I was basically working two jobs. I would work all day and then I’d work all night,” he said.
For the next 13 years, Smith owned and operated the small company while also volunteering for the fire department.
Fast-forward to January 2011, Smith decided it was time to get out of the computer business and accepted a full-time paid position as the town’s deputy fire chief, replacing Ron Stanko.
“I had no intention of ever becoming a full-time firefighter of any kind,” admitted Smith.
“The thing is when you start off everybody has a different reason for joining, but for me it was the realization that in an emergency event somebody has got to go out there and help make that situation better,” said Smith.
“I wanted to be that guy that could go and help.”
Over the past three decades, he said a lot has changed in the way the fire department approaches emergencies.
“When I started back in the 80s the only expectation on the fire department was that if there’s a fire you’ll show up and you’ll try to put the fire out. We didn’t do car accidents or anything else,” he said.
Back then, the Warden Service was responsible for responding to car accidents, said Smith, explaining Parks had an emergency response team (ERT).
“There was even a bit of a division in the fire hall,” he said, adding Parks and the volunteer fire department each had their own equipment and training.
Shortly after Smith joined the fire department, Parks slowly began to hand over some of its jurisdictional responsibilities to the volunteer fire department, opting instead to pay the municipality for its emergency services.
Today, Smith said there are 35 volunteer firefighters in town, about 10 more than when he first started. A third full-time firefighter is expected to join the department this year, pending budget approval from town council.
Smith said the biggest challenge facing the fire department is recruitment and retention.
“The core group of our volunteers is aging and we’re not bringing a lot of new people in.
“Right now our youngest guy is 31 years old, so we’re missing out on a whole generation of 20 year olds and that’s really important to us, because those guys are eager and keen, they want to train and they want to learn and we need that to keep to us on our toes.”
Fortunately, the municipality won’t have to worry about retaining Smith. He said he has at least another 10 years in him before he considers hanging up his helmet for good.
“It really is a labour of love.”
Paul Clarke
[email protected]
