"You can take the man out of the fire department..."
These words prompt a laugh from Gary Lebeter who, sitting at Salmon Arm Fire Hall #2, gets up to respond after being paged for a call out. This is just days after his fellow Salmon Arm firefighters held a celebration in honour of the former deputy fire chief and his retirement.
"Seeing as I鈥檓 here I鈥檓 actually going to go and respond to this call," said Lebeter, who began his Observer interview commenting on some of the perks of retiring after 33 years with the fire department.
"So far it鈥檚 really nice getting up in the morning and getting to do your own thing and not have to put on a uniform and go to work," said Lebeter, noting he'd not yet given up his pager as he plans to continue doing some day responses out of Hall 2.
"I鈥檓 going to go a full month without listening to pager tones in the middle of the night and during the day and just see how that goes. Because after 33 years it鈥檚 ingrained in you. I mean, I鈥檒l hear certain sounds and think that鈥檚 the phone starting to go off on the pager 鈥� it鈥檚 a pretty tough thing to shake after so many years."
Professional commitment overriding personal plans isn't something new for Lebeter.
"I love serving the community," said Lebeter. "When I first joined back in whatever it was, 1992, I told my wife I鈥檓 going to do this for five years. That was it. We鈥檇 only been in town for 10 months and I thought it would be a nice way to meet some people鈥� That was the longest five years I鈥檝e ever experienced!"
Along with serving the community, Lebeter cited the camaraderie shared with his family of Salmon Arm firefighters as another thing that has kept him among the ranks.
"They鈥檙e a really dedicated group of people, there鈥檚 a lot of family events鈥� that still go on in the department throughout the year," said Lebeter. "I've really enjoyed serving the community and being out there and giving back because it is a great community we live in and without people volunteering or being paid on-call members, there wouldn鈥檛 be a fire department and that puts a lot of people at risk."
Given the nature of the job, Lebeter has accumulated a number of upsetting memories during his time as a firefighter. One unusual experience that stands out for Lebeter was the Silver Creek wildfire of 1998 and the evacuation of Salmon Arm, including all the homes in his neighbourhood.
"I remember coming home after a day on the truck and I'm sitting on the front stoop of my house and all of the houses had pink ribbons on them showing they were empty," said Lebeter."It was a weird thing, sitting on the stoop and there鈥檚 nobody in the neighbourhood. It was the eeriest thing."
Lebeter was pleased to see good friend Carmen Guidos be promoted to be the fire department's new deputy fire chief.
"Carmen and I are great friends 鈥� we served in the same hall together, Hall 2鈥�," said Lebeter of his "old" morning coffee companion.
"He鈥檚 going to do a great job, his heart is in the right spot, he鈥檚 got the knowledge and he鈥檚 a very dedicated employee."
Lebeter's retirement plans include spending more time with his grandchildren, and more time in his workshop.
"I do a lot of woodwork 鈥� I want to get back into it鈥�," said Lebeter. "I鈥檝e got a '54 Chevy Five-Window pickup in a trailer鈥� that I want to put back together that I鈥檝e had for 12 years. I look at it once in a while, I open the trailer door to see if it鈥檚 still there. I want to get that out, get it on the road. I want to get back into fishing because I have very little time 鈥� get back to things I enjoy doing, not that I didn鈥檛 enjoy my job. I really did enjoy my job."
The transition to retirement has not been easy for Lebeter. He said he'd been trying to for the past two years. He was even initially reluctant to be at the fire hall for his retirement celebration.
"I wasn鈥檛 going to go because I was struggling with leaving, and I found it emotional and my wife said you have to go and Brad (Fire Chief Brad Shirley) is like, 'Gary, you have to come because they had this planned,'" said Lebeter with a laugh. "I鈥檓 like no, I鈥檓 not going, I鈥檓 staying away. But I鈥檓 glad I went, it was very good."
Lebeter said firefighters are still needed at the city's fire halls and he encouraged those interested to stop by and check it out.
"We do put them in a hall for four Tuesday nights to see if that鈥檚 what they want. It鈥檚 a great family organization, it鈥檚 great at team building. I highly recommend it to anybody to get involved. It鈥檚 a very rewarding job鈥�"
It's possible those checking out Fire Hall 2 may find Lebeter still at work, serving his community.
