For 30 years, County and Town residents have been able to count on Fire Chief Tom Thomson during some of the worst moments of their lives.
His staff have described him as someone who genuinely cares about helping people. “He’s actually the greatest guy. Everybody who knows Tom loves Tom,” says Carla Roy, the administrative assistant for the Drayton Valley/Brazeau County Fire Department.
Thomson’s former boss, Sheldon Fuson, says he showed promise from the start of his career in January 1993 and was a great teacher for new recruits.
While Thomson’s journey as a firefighter in this community started in January 1993, it wasn’t his first time in a fire hall. His father, Jack Thomson, was a firefighter with the Jasper fire department from 1953 until his retirement in 1988, and Thomson says he often tagged along with his dad.
“I grew up in the fire hall. I kind of hung around firefighters, and I was always at the fire hall when I was a kid,” he says.
When Thomson first moved to the area, he started as a teacher at the Lindale School. One of the other teachers at the school was a volunteer firefighter and Thomson was encouraged to join.
Roy says Thomson taught her in Grades 2 and 3. She says she can remember him taking calls, and if they were serious getting another teacher to cover his class.
She says she started with the fire department only a short while before Thomson began working full-time there. “So our paths crossed again,” says Roy.
“We’re lucky to have him as a boss,” she says. “I don’t look forward to the day he retires, but I’ll be happy for him.”
Over the years, Roy says she’s met several fire chiefs. In her experience, many of them are hot-headed, but she doesn’t see that in Thomson.
“Tom is humble. He’s very objective, cool, calm, and collected. He’s politically correct. He’s just great.”
Fuson says Thomson was recommended by a couple of the other teachers at Lindale, which led Fuson to interview him.
“It didn’t take long for him to progress up through the ranks. His learning capability was second to none,” he says.
One of the nicknames Fuson fondly remembers him by is One Boot Thomson. He says Thomson got the nickname when they were headed out to a fire one day. Fuson says the guys went down to the hall and grabbed their gear, and got into the truck.
Thomson had tossed his stuff into the truck and started to put it on when they got there. At that point, he realized one of his boots had fallen out of his pants when he stood them up. “So he got there with only one boot,” says Fuson.
For Thomson, part of the appeal when he first joined the fire department was getting to meet people. As he was new in town, he didn’t know many people and wanted to get out more. “Then, once I started doing the training, I fell in love with it, and it took off from there.”
In 2007, Thomson moved from being a volunteer firefighter to full-time employment. His first position was the training officer.
By 2009, he was appointed the fire chief. At the time, Fuson was the interim fire chief.
“He’s a good guy and very dedicated,” says Fuson.
Fuson says when he was approached about Thomson’s application, Fuson told the hiring committee he would be a great fit.
“I think the right choice was made,” he says.
Even after 30 years, Thomson says he still loves his job.
“There’s not a lot of people who can get up every morning and are excited to go to work,” he says. “It’s been a real pleasure to be the fire chief for Drayton Valley and Brazeau County. I’m honoured to have been in the position for as long as I have.”
While Thomson now spends most of his time in managerial duties, he says there is still always something new happening every day. He says he fields questions from residents, staff, and deals with emergencies as they happen.
As fire chief, he is responsible for the Lodgepole Fire Department, the Drayton Valley Fire Department, and the Breton Fire Department.
“I manage about 70 [employees],” he says.
The majority of those employees are paid, on-call volunteers.
Thomson says one part of the job he enjoys is seeing other people excel at what they’re doing. He says staff work to achieve certifications and get recognized at their annual year-end award ceremonies.
He says his favourite part of his job is the people he works with. “The people I see every day… and working with them. We have a tremendous group of individuals who do this job every day.”
The job is extremely dangerous and can be very stressful, says Thomson. But he admires the way his staff carries out the tasks even in those situations.
The toughest part of the job for Thomson is responding to some emergencies where people are seriously injured or killed. “When it’s fires or collisions, those are never good days. You never want to see someone lose their life,” he says.
Even though he’s now got 30 years on his belt, Thomson says he’s not done yet. “I still enjoy the job a lot, and I feel that I still have a lot of things that I still want to accomplish.”
