Navi ol) Bry -2RV? e ed _ After a quarter century fighting en fire prevention officer Nelson hangs it up Te _ By Bill Hunt Gi oot. THE f 2 “After nearly 26 years as a fire- fighter fire prevention officer, ary Nelson has hung up his hat. Nelson, 54, ieuied the Bellevill Fire Department March 7, 1977 after then he has helped save peo- ple from fires, extricated people from car crashes, rescued children from Te cana au poeses eda cate the public about the dangerous of fire. Nelson says it was ae excitement that him to it. “It’s sort of an adrenaline rush,” he Although his greatest sense of satisfaction came from extin- re ee a fire before it got out of co shrill of hee a fire are in most j ‘ 7 's got a little (bit of) kid in them,” he says. Nelson was the first person hired under former fire Chief Fred Hoskin. and was “proud” to have driven the pumper truck that carried Hoskin's casket at his funeral. “We had a lot of respect for each other,” he says of his former boss. _ Throughout his career Nelson has been active within the fire renting community. Hi served as presk ent the Belleville Profes- fessional Firefight- Gary ers’ Association, NELSON and more recently, as secretary for esta Fire Prevention He is also the fates of the local Red Knights Motorcycle Club, which raises money for the burn unit at Kingston General Hospital. “1 ae the very first Canadian to become international president of the Red Knights, and Thad that position noting it “I found after 20 years on ‘the ie sup- pression group ae body wasn't responding it's supposed t he says of one Peat for the swit But there were other eon, too. Nel- son was in charge of pe retehes ers. luring the Belvedere fire in the mid- 1990s that took fod then, he had an impact on him and he decided to “move to the prevention side of the ~ job. There was also the challenge of trying different, he Looking back on some of the ioreen eS he’s been involved with, a aie at Cherney’s store in the late 1980s-and another at-~ the Belmont Restaurant in the early 1980s ae out in his mind. Nel- son recalls taking his coat off after the winter fire at Cherney's. “I took the coat oe put it in the Jaundry drain and it stood there,” he ee of the shook of ice on it. to drive an that had had a brick wall fall on the cab the week before. But the truck was needed, regardless of its condition, so Nelson answered the call. The down side of the job was seeing a life lost. As a fire preven- tion officer, he has had to go into buildings termine the source of the fire sometimes before the victims are removed, he says. Conversely, when a life is saved, ent most,” says Nelson. “And to know you Pe to them and ge t them back (to Now that he is officially retired, Nelson plans to work at his newly created business, G.L.N. Fire Code Consulting, and is seriously con- aes a run for council as a low Ward a in the on pal electiot sy ( ere “ag