There’s an unsung group of heroes within Kamloops Fire and Rescue who answer the call almost every time an emergency happens.
Unlike the firefighters who staff their posts day and night, these men and women have careers outside the department but jump into action whenever their pagers go off.
“You do it for the love of the job,” Andrew Duggan, a captain with fire and rescue’s auxiliary firefighters.
Duggan oversees the auxiliary station in Dallas. Auxiliary Capt. Matt Howes works in Westsyde and their counterpart Bruce Crawford is in Heffley Creek.
The trio became auxiliary firefighters to help the community. None aspires to turn their part-time passion into a full-time career, but some auxiliaries do, he said.
Since joining the auxiliaries in 1981, Duggan has fought grassfires and house fires, rescued people from car accidents and done almost everything an employed firefighter does.
He and Howes trained on the job and worked their way up through the ranks. Now they oversee the chaos at accidents and train new auxiliary firefighters. Each of the three auxiliary stations can have as many as 15 members.
Howes said auxiliaries do not start work fully trained. He or she will not be thrown into a situation until a captain like Howes believes they are ready.
Duggan said the job requires people to be away from home for long periods of time. He’s been paged to an emergency while driving home from work and not returned to his family until late.
Auxiliaries are required to take part in weekly practices at their area fire station Wednesdays from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The time is paid, but no one gets rich doing it, he said.
Fire and rescue is looking for a new crop of auxiliary recruits. Chief training officer Steve Butchart said fire and rescue is accepting applications until 4 p.m. on Friday, April 4.
An open house takes place March 27 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the training centre on McGill Road. Butchart said everyone is welcome to come and see if being an auxiliary is right for them.
For more information: phone Butchart at 240-571-2975.
