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11 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,June 18,2020 insidehalton.com WE'RE and WE'd lovE to sEE you! Monday to Friday 10:00 to 6:00 Weekends 10:00 to 5:00 Goodwill Burlington 4051 New Street Goodwill Oakville 407A Speers Road thousands of fresh new items are arriving daily and we'll gratefully accept your donations! oPEn! Oakville's fire chief is re- tiring after more than four decades with the Oakville Fire Department. Brian Durdin recently announced he would be stepping down as fire chief, a position he has held for four years, effective June 30.four years, effective June 30.f The 61-year-old said now is the right time to move on. "It's been 41-plus years. You kind of know in yourYou kind of know in yourY heart and your mind that it is time to move to the next chapter, the next adventure and let some of the new staff pave the way to the future," said Durdin. "I enjoyed everything I did and will certainly miss it for sure, but I'm ready."for sure, but I'm ready."f Durdin said he had no childhood dreams of becom- ing fire chief or even a fire- fighter. He said he wasfighter. He said he wasf working in the Town of Oak- ville's parks and recreation department in 1978 when a supervisor talked him into applying for a job in the fire service. Durdin said he had some training in forestry fire- fighting and decided to givefighting and decided to givef it a shot. The Queen Elizabeth Park High School graduate was just 21 years old when he was hired by the fire de- partment in 1980. The fire chief said the job was new and challenging and there were regular op- portunities for advance- ment, so he stuck with it. Durdin would rise from firefighter, to captain, to pla-firefighter, to captain, to pla-f toon chief within the sup- pression division. In 2005, he became the as- sistant deputy chief, and was promoted to deputy fire chief in 2008. In 2016, he suc- ceeded Lee Grant to become Oakville Fire Chief. "One of the highlights of my career was becoming chief," said Durdin. "I attribute that to a lot of great mentors and people who made me the best fire- fighter I could be."fighter I could be."f Durdin said a lot has changed since he first start- ed firefighting. For starters, he says fireFor starters, he says fireF safety education has result- ed in the number of fires in the community going way down. He said now less than 5 per cent of the calls Oak- ville firefighters respond to actually involve fires. Durdin also said, when he first started, firefighters only responded to fire calls. Firefighters started tak- ing on auto-extrication calls in 1982 and medical calls in the early 1990s, he said. The fire chief said some of the calls he responded to ended well while others end- ed very badly. He said something he has tried to instill in new fire- fighters is an understand-fighters is an understand-f ing that they serve the com- munity and the call they are responding to might be the worst moment of someone's life. He instructs these fire- fighters to be profession andfighters to be profession andf make this person's day bet- ter where they can. "I'm really proud of the department as a whole and how we've managed to serve the community and give them a good bang for their buck," said Durdin. "I'm proud of the team that we have. I'm comfort- able with the team that we have to take the next step and say, 'They're ready. They're going to do fine without me.'" An external and internal search is currently under- way for Durdin's replace- ment. After retiring, Durdin says he intends to travel with his wife Heather and spend more time with his children and grandchil- dren. "It's been an awesome ride," he said. OAKVILLE FIRE CHIEF SET TO RETIRE DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com Oakville Fire Chief Brian Durdin is retiring after 41-plus years with the Town of Oakville, retiring on June 30th after becoming fire chief in May 2016. Graham Paine/Torstar NEWS