HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-01-20, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011.Longtime Blyth FD chief decides to retire
As 2010 turned into 2011
an integral member of the
Blyth Fire Department called
it quits when former chief
Paul Josling officially
resigned from the North
Huron Fire Department.
Just a few months short of
his 37th anniversary as a
firefighter, Josling officially
stepped down, having made
the decision to leave in late
2010.
He says there is plenty that
he’ll miss about being a
firefighter and some things
that he won’t miss, but he’s
confident that he made the
right decision, despite how
tough it was to make it.
As for the timing of the
decision, Josling decided that
his time with the department
was up shortly after the
decision to amalgamate the
Blyth and Wingham Fire
Departments into the now-
unified North Huron Fire
Department.
After the amalgamation,
Josling went from being
Blyth’s fire chief to assistant
deputy-chief for the North
Huron Fire Department.
He said that while he felt
amalgamation was a great
concept for the two
departments, he wasn’t
necessarily on board with
some of the changes and
principles that came with the
amalgamation. It was these
differences of opinion, in
addition to other factors, that
led to Josling’s decision to
step down.
“I didn’t like some of the
changes that were being
proposed, but I wasn’t in a
position to do anything about
it, so I felt it was time to step
down,” Josling says.
Despite the conditions of
his departure, Josling says,
his opinion of every
firefighter associated with the
department remains
unchanged from when he first
joined in 1974: that it’s home
to some of the best people the
world has to offer.
“Firefighters are a special
group of people wherever you
go but ours are the best of the
best,” he says. “We always
worked together well and that
just made it outstanding.”
Josling is unequivocal when
asked about his first day as a
firefighter, April 4, 1974.
“It’s just always a day that
I’ve remembered,” he says.
Josling was 23 at the time
and says that he had always
wanted to be a firefighter for
as long as he could remember.
When he began with the
Blyth Fire Department he
remembers it as being
challenging, but not
overwhelming.
That was a trend that would
continue, he said, as in the
firefighting world, no one is
ever finished learning.
Josling said it wasn’t the
content of the training
exercises that he found
challenging, it was the
amount of training. He said it
was never-ending, especially
as the years went on and
firefighting began to change.
Josling says that equipment
has changed significantly
over the years. He remembers
a truck purchased by the fire
department in 1984 that cost
$67,000. Another truck was
bought for the department in
2000 for $217,000. Quite a
jump for just over 15 years, he
said, and the rest of the
equipment required by
firefighters followed suit.
When asked about
memorable calls over the
years, Josling admits that
more often than not, a call
remains with a firefighter for
all the wrong reasons. When
conjuring up memories from
his nearly 37 years of
firefighting, Josling says that
much of what he remembers,
he remembers because the
incidents were hard to forget.
“Anything to do with kids is
just terrible to remember. It’s
tough to work with kids who
are seriously injured or
worse,” he said.
But by far the worst day on
the job, Josling said, was
when he heard the news that
fellow Blyth firefighter Dave
Mounsey had been killed in a
single-vehicle auto collision
in 2006. He said his fellowfirefighters were a big help tohim, but that the death ofsomeone so close is
something you never get over
in the firefighter brotherhood.
“The camaraderie of the
guys was a real help to get me
through it,” he said. “But it’s
still hard when you lose a
fellow firefighter and a friend
like Dave.”
Josling says the situation
was compounded by the loss
of another firefighter,
Clarence Bailie, earlier in the
year, but this time due to
illness.
It’s the brotherhood,
however, that was one of the
first things Josling felt as a
member of the fire
department and it was one of
the last too. He says that
being a firefighter, especially
in a small, tight-knit
community like Blyth, truly is
like being a member of a
family, and with Blyth, it was
like being part of the best
family there is.
“We have the best guys
there ever was here, bar none.
They’re the greatest,” Josling
says. “A chief is only as good
as his firefighters and these
guys are the best there is. I
would trust my life to any one
of them, any day of the week
and twice on Sunday.”
It was in 1987 when Josling
was first approached about
being the chief of thedepartment. He wasapproached by then-chiefIrvin Bowes about taking overthe position.
Josling said he had a
discussion with his family
and decided he would accept
the position. This came after
his appointment as officer in
charge of auto extrication in
1981.
Josling officially took over
the chief position in 1988 and
remained chief until 2010
when the departments were
consolidated and current chief
of the North Huron Fire
Department John Black took
over the position.
Josling said the toughest
part about becoming chief
wasn’t the added
responsibility, it was the need
to exercise restraint when at a
fire call.
“The biggest challenge was
having to stand back and not
be involved at a call,” Josling
said. “You just want to try and
get in there, but you know that
you can’t.”
Josling says that he’ll
always have that same
fraternity with firefighters,
that it’ll just be different now.
One thing Josling isn’t
going to miss are the calls.
“I’m not going to miss
getting up in the middle of the
night and going to calls,
driving out in snowstorms. I
won’t miss a lot on the
firefighting end of things,” hesaid. “When you’re out on acall, you’re meeting people attheir worst, so it was difficultthat way, but afterwards,
when everyone’s okay, it’s
great.”
Over Josling’s time with the
fire department, he says that
he is extremely proud of the
part the Blyth Fire
Department played in the
implementation of the
Medical First Response
program and the Automatic
Defibrillation Program. The
program was the first of its
kind in Huron County.
Over his years in
firefighting, the Medical First
Response program has been
one that Josling has believed
strongly in, speaking to its
merits to several other
municipalities in recent years.
Josling is also proud in the
small part he has played in the
development of the
Emergency Services Training
Centre just outside of Blyth.
Josling says that the centre is
something that the North
Huron Fire Department can
be proud of as it continues to
grow by leaps and bounds.
Now that his time in
firefighting has come to an
end, Josling will continue to
focus on his position as chief
building official with Huron
East, a position he has held
since Huron East
amalgamated in 2001.
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Passing of the torch
Paul Josling, left, accepts the fire chief’s helmet for the Blyth Fire Department
in 1988. Irvin Bowes, right, approached Josling about the position in 1987,
feeling he was ready for the step up and Josling accepted. He would remain
Blyth’s fire chief until the North Huron Fire Department was created from
both the Blyth and Wingham Fire Departments at the beginning of 2010. (File
photo)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen