He's hung up his white helmet, but not his bunker gear.
As chief of the Humboldt Fire Department (HFD) for the past 22 years, Norbert LeBlanc could be identified at any emergency scene as one of the three guys wearing white helmets - the colour identifying an officer of the fire department.
But since retiring at the end of December, he's back in a yellow helmet as one of 24 volunteer members of the HFD.
LeBlanc first joined the HFD back in February of 1983.
"I was new to Humboldt, after just moving here from New Brunswick to take over my father-in-law's shoe repair business," LeBlanc told the Journal in an interview last week.
He was approached to become a firefighter and decided to do it.
"I met a lot of firefighters who have become very close friends," he said. "When you move to a small town, it's sometimes hard to meet new people. The firefighters made me feel like I was back home."
LeBlanc was on the department for seven years before putting his name in to be an officer. At the time, the HFD had elections every year for fire chief, deputy fire chief, captain and secretary - the job of even the fire chief was a volunteer position.
The second time LeBlanc put his name forward for captain, he was elected. But it didn't take him any time at all to move up the ranks. Within the year, with the departure of the fire chief to another town, he was moved up to deputy, and at the next election, in November 1990, he was elected as fire chief.
A quick ascent for a French guy from the east coast, but he considered the move carefully.
"Before I ran for the fire chief's position, I sat down with my wife Mary and she agreed to support me in that position because my English was very poor and my writing skills and grammar were not very good, since my first language growing up was French," he explained.
It was Mary who corrected his first reports for town council, and letters he had to write, he said, which is something he has to thank her for.
His English has definitely improved over the past couple of decades "but I still can't get rid of my French accent," he smiled. "My grammar is still not the best, but I got by and did okay for a Grade 10 dropout."
LeBlanc didn't get the full support of the firefighters in his early days as chief.
"Some of the firefighters didn't think that I could do this job and made it very hard for me for the first years, but I was determined to make it work, and I did."
One of LeBlanc's biggest fears stepping into the role as chief was a firefighter being injured or even killed while under his command.
Now, at the end of his time as chief, he can proudly say that never happened.
"I can safely say now I never had a firefighter injured or die during the 22 years I have given to this job," he said.
With a desire to do the job right, even before he was hired by the City as fire chief, in a paid position, LeBlanc focused on educating himself in firefighting and fire investigations.
"I attended all the weekend firefighter courses that I could," he said. "I took lots of training by correspondence, and that is how I got my licence as a Fire Inspector, Levels 1 and 2, as a Wood Energy Technical Transfer (WETT) Inspector, and also my Building Inspector's licence."
He spent many evenings and weekends studying to pass the exams.
For three years, he worked for the city on a part-time basis, then was hired on full time.
The job of fire chief has its good points and its bad, just like any other job, LeBlanc said.
The fire chief does business fire inspections, sets up firefighter training, maintains the fire hall and the equipment, making sure every piece of equipment is ready to go when the fire alarm rings.
"The fire chief's job in a small city demands that you are on call 24/7 when you are in town, or on long weekend standby," LeBlanc said. "You have a fire chief truck parked at your house and when someone calls, it doesn't matter if it's 2 a.m. or 2 p.m., you must respond."
Emergencies range from carbon monoxide alarms, fire alarms, motor vehicle crashes, "and even cats supposedly stuck in trees or on power poles or even on top of the water tower," LeBlanc stated.
People call the chief for fire and building regulations - usually in the evening or on weekends "because the public doesn't want to bother you during the weekday, because you may be busy with more urgent calls," he said.
"But I enjoyed the job.... I loved the job and ran the fire department as if it was my own. I received lots of respect from the firefighters and the citizens of Humboldt, and I tried my best to show them respect. Respect is something you have to earn; it isn't given to you just because you may have the title of fire chief."
There have been difficult calls to deal with over the years. In 22 years, LeBlanc recalls three fires that ended up killing four people.
"One morning, we received a call to a house where the mother of a 22-year-old walked in and found the house full of smoke. A fire had started on the stove and spread to the cupboards, but went out on its own. There wasn't any smoke detector in the house, and her son was found dead in the living room," LeBlanc said. "It was determined that he came home from a party and decided to make himself something to eat in the middle of the night. He put something on the stove to cook, and laid down on the couch and fell asleep."
There was another fatality when a person had been drinking during the day and decided to lay down on his bed with a cigarette. He started the bedroom on fire and again, the fire extinguished itself.
"There wasn't a working smoke detector in the house, and he was found dead," LeBlanc said.
The last fatality was about 10 years ago, when a fire broke out in a house late at night and two people died.
"The home was being renovated and there was no window in the bedroom so they couldn't get out because the fire was at the doorway," LeBlanc explained.
"Again, there wasn't a working smoke detector in the house. It's still sad to hear that a lot of people still don't have working smoke detectors in their home."
There have been light moments on the job, though, too.
During a fire drill at Humboldt Public School once, LeBlanc was standing outside waiting for all the kids to come out when he was approached by one of the students.
"Did you pull the fire alarm?" the student asked.
"Yes, I did," LeBlanc answered.
"He looked at me and said, 'Boy, are you going to be in trouble with the principal'," LeBlanc laughed.
Another time, he had planned a fire drill at one of the seniors' complexes, warning them that he would be there sometime between 8 a.m. and noon.
He showed up at 11 a.m. to find some angry seniors sitting in the main lobby. They had been waiting there since 8 a.m.
"I had to explain the purpose of the fire drill was for them to stay in their suites and only come when the alarm went off," he smiled.
There have been comical calls as well.
The fire department was called to a clothes' dryer fire at the home of a group of Sisters once.
"We all walked into the house like a bunch of ducks in a row, but the firefighter in the front didn't notice the step up from the living room and tripped and fell face-first in the middle of the living room floor," LeBlanc laughed. "The poor Sisters were trying to pick him up off the floor, but me and another firefighter had to leave the room because we were laughing too hard to help him up."
The firefighter finally got up, LeBlanc laughed, and came outside angry, asking why anyone would put a step in a living room.
LeBlanc has been on the department for some of the biggest fires Humboldt has ever seen, like the Main St. fire.
A good portion of the 500 block of Main Street went up in flames on January 30, 1989. The fire broke out in one building at 2 p.m. and quickly spread to other buildings on a bitterly cold day.
"We fought that fire for 16 hours in -35C weather with a north wind," LeBlanc remembered. "Our firefighters' gear had about a two-inch layer of ice buildup which had to be chipped off in order to get out of it when you went inside to warm up."
As you thawed, your gear got wet, and then you got very cold, he said.
"I remember that night being soaked and very cold, going to the Humboldt Autobody shop and taking my gear off. I was given a pair of coveralls to put on, and those felt like the warmest coveralls I ever had. It felt so good to have something warm and dry."
Two months later, they fought the fire that burned down the United Church in Humboldt, in the middle of the night.
Two years later, on the same day as the downtown fire, there was another huge fire at Cash Motors. It was LeBlanc's first major fire as the chief.
"We fought that fire all night until the next day, and again it was a very cold night," he said.
Responding to car crashes is another responsibility of the fire department, and LeBlanc attended plenty of collisions that resulted in fatalities over the years.
"The worst part of the highway has been from Humboldt to St. Gregor," he said. "For some reason, there are a lot of car crashes on that part of the highway."
LeBlanc has also held positions as fire chief for Muenster and for Lake Lenore in recent years.
He started with Muenster seven years ago, upon their request.
"There was no one in their area interested in taking over their department, so I agreed and the City made a contract with them that I would look after their department. A short while later, I was asked by Lake Lenore for the same thing."
LeBlanc managed all three departments for five years. About two years ago, Muenster found a member to take over the duties of chief. In late 2012, after retiring from the City of Humboldt, LeBlanc also resigned from Lake Lenore.
"Running all three departments was a challenge, but I enjoyed it," he said.
The work that needed to be done with those departments was all done in the evening, when the volunteers were available. Most of the time LeBlanc gave to the Lake Lenore department in the past year was volunteered.
In addition to his duties as fire chief, LeBlanc looked after the outdoor skating rinks in Humboldt, flooding them seven days a week, sometimes on his own time.
"This started out as just a project that I took over from Leisure Services 12 years ago," he said. "All the work was done on my own time except during the week."
In the beginning, he flooded the two outdoor rinks, as well as the track in the winter, so speedskaters in town could use it, but that ceased a couple of years ago. The City also has just one outdoor rink now, and it sees a lot of use.
LeBlanc hopes to continue flooding the rinks on his own time, if he's allowed to.
"I enjoy doing it for the kids and it gives me something to do," he smiled.
Retiring as chief after being on the department so long was a wrenching decision for LeBlanc. The fire department has been a huge part of his life. But, he said, firefighting is a young person's job.
He had been debating retirement for about 18 months, and had planned to retire in June of 2013. However, he decided in the fall of 2012 to move that date up by six months.
He won't leave completely. LeBlanc will stay on with the HFD as a volunteer to help the new chief, who has yet to be hired, to adjust.
"I'm still going to be there to help whenever," he said.
He also plans to continue doing inspections on new construction and fire inspections as requested, he'll teach at the Saskatchewan Volunteer Firefighter Association conferences twice a year and will continue to do firefighter training for any community through the Carlton Trail Regional College (CTRC).
Getting that firefighter training for this area organized is, he feels, one of his biggest accomplishments in his time as fire chief of Humboldt.
LeBlanc was one of those who spearheaded that project, ensuring that all 22 fire departments in the area have access to training materials and instructors at a cost that's not prohibitive.
"A lot of small departments don't have the money to buy the training materials they need," he explained. This organization allows them to get what they need at a cost they can afford, even partnering with other departments for classes if they have to, to further cut down costs.
This not only allows the departments to serve their communities better, but it ensures, if there is a major fire that has multiple departments responding, that everyone at the scene has had the same training and is on the same page.
Also on LeBlanc's list of accomplishments is new equipment. In his time as chief, LeBlanc managed to replace every truck in the hall, get new bunker gear for his firefighters in the last couple of years, and most recently purchase a new set of Jaws of Life.
"There's some nice equipment there," he said, agreeing that he's left behind a good legacy.
The fire department membership is another thing LeBlanc is proud of.
"We have a very good fire department right now," he said.
The 28 firefighters who currently serve the community on the department are interested and motivated to do their best. And they are there for the right reasons, LeBlanc said.
There are still three members who were there when LeBlanc first joined - Joe Dutchak, Darryl Hushagen, and Darcy Leonew.
"A lot of people went through there in 30 years. Some came for a year or two, some came for a few months, and some came for lots of years," LeBlanc said. Most left because they were moving or changing jobs, not because they lost interest.
"We always had a waiting list for joining the fire department," LeBlanc said, and that's something that he's proud of.
Part of the reason for that, he feels, is the call volume that Humboldt has - an average of four per month.
"A lot of calls keeps interest up," he said. "The wheels are always turning somewhere."
LeBlanc's first days of retirement were "different," he said, "because I know now I don't have to go to work tomorrow."
He also doesn't have to be the first one to show up at a scene. As a volunteer firefighter, he still responds to calls, and goes in to see if he can help, but he's not the guy in charge.
"It's going to be rough for a while," he admitted, getting used to all that.
