TORONTO – With almost 40 years on the job, Toronto Fire Chief Bill Stewart has resided over major fires and major change, and now, after almost four decades of service to the city of Toronto, is retiring.
First serving with the North York fire department, prior to amalgamation, Stewart has held various positions in his 39 year tenure, including, “operations fire fighter, Captain, Administration Chief, Assistant Deputy, Deputy Chief and the Fire Chief since May 1, 2003,” according to the Toronto Fire website.
Technology, Stewart says, has changed the job significantly. Everything is different now, he says, from the technology used to fight fires – equipment now weighs half as much as it did in 1972 – to the items feeding the fire.
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“When my father was a firefighter,” Stewart said. “All the products were natural – wood, cotton. Now everything is synthetic.”
The high-rise buildings scattered across Toronto also serve as a unique challenge to fire fighters in Toronto.
“We’ve also got the response time to get up in the buildings, 30, 40, 50 floors,” Stewart said.
The difficulty of high-rise buildings made headlines in 2010 when an apartment building on Wellesley St caught fire. The six alarm fire trapped people in the higher floors of the building.
Stewart also served as Chief during other momentous moments in Toronto’s fire history – including the sunrise Propane Explosion in 2008.
“We’ve seen a lot of firefighters die over the years,” Stewart said. “Maybe not in dramatic fashions, but certainly as a result of cancer.”
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