STATION officer Des Falconer has described his 40-year firefighting career as one he’s “been so lucky to be a part of” and “not all beer and skittles”.

“It’s impossible to predict what will happen on your shift – from a child with his leg stuck in his push bike through to hazardous material spills, fully involved fires, car accidents or medical assists,” he says as he prepares to retire this week.

Since joining the ACT Fire Brigade in March, 1983, Des has worked across all of Canberra’s nine fire stations, where he specialised in technical rescue.

His specialisation saw him work during the Thredbo disaster, fight the 2003 bushfires, be first attending officer at more than 4500 incidents and be awarded a Churchill Fellowship.

“It’s a job where camaraderie is important, a true team environment where we live and eat together, sharing the good and not-so-good times,” he says.

Des, 64, was an electrician in the ’70s and early ’80s, with no plans to become a firefighter.

But, when interest rates went up, people weren’t buying houses and he found himself without work.

“I bumped into a guy I barely knew and he was in the fire brigade uniform. I said: ‘What’s the fire brigade like?’ and he said he wasn’t sure because he was still in college, but he thought it might be alright,” says Des.

“I asked about joining. He told me to look in the Saturday paper because they’re recruiting and, 40 years later, here I am.”

Now, as he nears 65, Des says it’s time to retire.

“I’ve just become a grandfather, and my daughter and her fiance are moving back from Melbourne so I’ll be on babysitting duties,” he says.

“I have a boat and I plan to do a lot more fishing in my retirement as well. I especially love Jindabyne and the south coast.

“I was going to retire earlier and travel with my wife but COVID-19 came so I hung around, and then it got so close to my 40th anniversary and my 65th birthday, I stuck it out for a little while longer.”

He says a lot has changed in firefighting throughout his career, with urban search and rescue in its infancy at the time of the Thredbo disaster.

‘Thredbo was terrible’

“Thredbo was terrible, it was great to find one survivor but it was hard and it was very frustrating,” he says.

“The Churchill Fellowship was after Thredbo. I travelled to some magnificent countries and fire services, Japan and Turkey. It was good to go to countries such as the US, where they have landslides, earthquakes and tornadoes. They have to have comprehensive urban search and rescue teams.

“I learned plenty. Thredbo happened and we were just introducing search and rescue. Now we’ve got a lot of equipment and it’s very advanced.”

But the hardest fight he’s had was against the 2003 Canberra bushfires.

“It was home,” he says. “The fires went through, people were devastated, they lost houses and lives and it was very emotional, but we had to keep a stoic face.

“I remember we were travelling through Duffy just after the fires went through. To see the despair was horrible, and it was emotional. It was our job to protect these people and four people died, 400 houses were lost.

“Sometimes there are some jobs you wish you hadn’t seen.”

‘You’re there to do the best you can’

Fortunately, Des says, he’s got strong support systems behind him.

“You have to remind yourself that it’s not your fault, and you’re there to do the best you can. We have a very good critical-incident stress structure, which has been in place for over 25 years, and it’s about looking after each other as fellow firefighters, and I have a good, strong family support system as well,” he says.

“The satisfying parts of the job are going to a car accident and extricating people who are not hurt, or going to fires where you can contain the fire to one room and save people’s belongings and lives.

“I just really love coming to work. I am struggling to retire, but I have enjoyed every day and I know I’m leaving it in good hands. The young firefighters are fun to work with; they’re so keen and everything is an adventure – even getting lunch.

“I’m jealous of the young guys and girls now, I wish I was starting again,” he says, and to sum it all up… “a retired firefighter friend summed it up nicely when he said ‘I won’t miss the circus, but I’ll miss the clowns’.”