Ending a nearly four-decade career in firefighting, Sturgeon County's first fire chief Bart Clark took off his boots and hung up his hat last week.
Friday marked the end of Clark's career that began with service in Fort Saskatchewan with the volunteer department.
In between Clark served with the Dow Chemical industrial firefighting team, with the Alberta Fire Commissioner's office and, starting in 1989, with the City of St. Albert as deputy chief.
Among Clark's achievements were bringing 911 service to both St. Albert and Sturgeon County and helping to modernize Sturgeon County's department with better equipment and training.
Clark said the massive wildfires the county experienced over his tenure stick out in his mind because of the challenges they presented.
"The big ones with Sturgeon are probably as incident commander of those big wildfires in 2001, 2002 and 2009. Those had the potential for serious life loss and property loss."
While a few homes were lost in all of those fires, Clark said it could have been a lot worse.
"You have some 80 residential homes in the inner circle of the fire. The potential there is to lose every one of them."
He said on those fires, as well as with the rest of his time as chief, he is proud his firefighters were never seriously injured.
"In all of my time I have not had a loss-time injury under my watch."
When he became the county's first chief in 1998, he said the department was filled with hard working people who were being asked to do too much.
"When I first took over we had a group of very dedicated men and women pretty well scratching for funds and earning tickets on raffles to buy their own equipment."
He thanked successive county councils for the resources.
"There were some pretty lean budget years over the time, but they still realized we needed support for the firefighters."
Challenges ahead
While they are no longer his battles to fight, Clark said in the years ahead the county will have to confront the need for a full-time fire department as well as the need to relocate a hall and upgrade services, especially in Sturgeon Valley.
He said public expectations will push the county towards higher services.
"They expect full time delivery of services and yet we have a part-time department. We are building starter castles in an area that has inadequate fire water," he said. "There comes a tip-over point and we are kind of getting to that tip-over point."
He said the lack of a full-time staff puts a strain on the volunteer firefighters, increasing their turnover.
The county has plans to improve service in the valley, but so far those plans have not yet been funded.
Deputy Chief Pat Mahoney will become the full-time chief, a challenge he is prepared for.
"It is going to be a big responsibility and I am looking forward to it," he said. "I have a big learning curve ahead of me as far the administration side of things and how Sturgeon County does business."
For now Clark is concentrating on being retired, but given he knows the challenges, he might be open to a return to his volunteer roots.
"I am going to take some time off and just be retired for a year, but certainly my heart is there and they need the help."
