“You have indicators that you’re trained to look for,” he explains. He also says the anxiety lessens over the years as the equipment has changed drastically for the better.

“If you’re on a cold air tank, it’s not that hot,” he says, adding their equipment is top-notch now.“Our protection has come leaps and bounds since I started.” But they may not be jumping leaps when wearing it as the equipment weighs 95 pounds in total.

And when that bell rings, firefighters have one to two minutes to get dressed in their gear, be on the truck and head to the scene. He also says the training firefighters receive has improved greatly since he began his career.“We have technical rescue training now for special and high angles, trench rescues, water rescues and auto ex (excavation),” he says. That training is also used for cave-ins, which is more technical then people realize, states the platoon chief.“We all touched on these things (in training) but now they’re branching out into subfields,” he explains. While there is no typical day for a man in Neubauer’s line of work, he assesses the scene of a fire coordinating a plan for the men and women fighting the blaze.

“It’s my job to coordinate a plan,” he says. But working at a fire hall means working the continental shift.“We work 62 hours in six days,” he explains.“It was hard at first but it just takes a little adjusting.” In a typical shift, Neubauer says it’s impossible to pinpoint an average of calls.“You could get three fires in a day and then wait a month for another
one,” he adds. Since the creation of the tiered system, a system where fire, police and ambulances are all called, there are many more dispatches.“Our guys perform a lot of CPR,”
he explains, adding it’s not all about fighting blazes.

The rising population in the city makes Neubauer’s job more intense as well. The addition of the General Motors Centre, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and other prominent buildings also adds to the chaos.“The growth in this city is phenomenal. The money and the buildings we protect is just crazy,” he explains.“Our department hasn’t grown
that much but when you protect so much more you have to train so much more.” The city’s fire departments are also trained in dealing with hazardous chemicals, he claims. As for 2009, Neubauer says it has been a steady year so far.“We’ve come a lot further I think in stopping them quicker,” he says. Now, the damage to structures isn’t as bad when the fire is e x t i n g u i s h e d quickly.

Fire prevention plays a vital role in reducing the number of fires too.“I learned when I was a dispatcher that smoke detectors really do save lives,” he explains.“I couldn’t, actually I wouldn’t go to sleep, without a working smoke detector.” Although fire fighting is a dangerous job, he says his family has gotten used to his career choice.“They don’t like the long hours, weekends and holidays when I work, but that comes with the job,” he says. Thankfully, the veteran has never been injured in the line of duty and would recommend the job to anyone with the passion to do it.“Take on as many additional courses as you can. Be positive and keep going. It’s very hard to get into,” he says.“There is a big demand. It’s a great career,” he says smiling from ear to ear.

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