"You can take the man out of the fire department..."

These words prompt a laugh from Gary Lebeter who, sitting at Salmon Arm Fire Hall #2, gets up to respond after being paged for a call out. This is just days after his fellow Salmon Arm firefighters held a celebration in honour of the former deputy fire chief and his retirement. 

"Seeing as I91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™m here I91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™m actually going to go and respond to this call," said Lebeter, who began his Observer interview commenting on some of the perks of retiring after 33 years with the fire department. 

"So far it91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s really nice getting up in the morning and getting to do your own thing and not have to put on a uniform and go to work," said Lebeter, noting he'd not yet given up his pager as he plans to continue doing some day responses out of Hall 2. 

"I91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™m going to go a full month without listening to pager tones in the middle of the night and during the day and just see how that goes. Because after 33 years it91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s ingrained in you. I mean, I91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™ll hear certain sounds and think that91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s the phone starting to go off on the pager 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ“ it91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s a pretty tough thing to shake after so many years."

Professional commitment overriding personal plans isn't something new for Lebeter. 

"I love serving the community," said Lebeter. "When I first joined back in whatever it was, 1992, I told my wife I91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™m going to do this for five years. That was it. We91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™d only been in town for 10 months and I thought it would be a nice way to meet some people91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ¦ That was the longest five years I91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™ve ever experienced!"

Along with serving the community, Lebeter cited the camaraderie shared with his family of Salmon Arm firefighters as another thing that has kept him among the ranks. 

"They91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™re a really dedicated group of people, there91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s a lot of family events91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ¦ that still go on in the department throughout the year," said Lebeter. "I've really enjoyed serving the community and being out there and giving back because it is a great community we live in and without people volunteering or being paid on-call members, there wouldn91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™t be a fire department and that puts a lot of people at risk."

Given the nature of the job, Lebeter has accumulated a number of upsetting memories during his time as a firefighter. One unusual experience that stands out for Lebeter was the Silver Creek wildfire of 1998 and the evacuation of Salmon Arm, including all the homes in his neighbourhood. 

"I remember coming home after a day on the truck and I'm sitting on the front stoop of my house and all of the houses had pink ribbons on them showing they were empty," said Lebeter."It was a weird thing, sitting on the stoop and there91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s nobody in the neighbourhood. It was the eeriest thing."

Lebeter was pleased to see good friend Carmen Guidos be promoted to be the fire department's new deputy fire chief. 

"Carmen and I are great friends 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ“ we served in the same hall together, Hall 291ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ¦," said Lebeter of his "old" morning coffee companion. 

"He91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s going to do a great job, his heart is in the right spot, he91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s got the knowledge and he91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s a very dedicated employee."

Lebeter's retirement plans include spending more time with his grandchildren, and more time in his workshop. 

"I do a lot of woodwork 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ“ I want to get back into it91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ¦," said Lebeter. "I91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™ve got a '54 Chevy Five-Window pickup in a trailer91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ¦ that I want to put back together that I91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™ve had for 12 years. I look at it once in a  while, I open the trailer door to see if it91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s still there. I want to get that out, get it on the road. I want to get back into fishing because I have very little time 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ“ get back to things I enjoy doing, not that I didn91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™t enjoy my job. I really did enjoy my job."

The transition to retirement has not been easy for Lebeter. He said he'd been trying to for the past two years. He was even initially reluctant to be at the fire hall for his retirement celebration. 

"I wasn91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™t going to go because I was struggling with leaving, and I found it emotional and my wife said you have to go and Brad (Fire Chief Brad Shirley) is like, 'Gary, you have to come because they had this planned,'" said Lebeter with a laugh. "I91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™m like no, I91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™m not going, I91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™m staying away. But I91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™m glad I went, it was very good."

Lebeter said firefighters are still needed at the city's fire halls and he encouraged those interested to stop by and check it out. 

"We do put them in a hall for four Tuesday nights to see if that91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s what they want. It91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s a great family organization, it91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s great at team building. I highly recommend it to anybody to get involved. It91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s a very rewarding job91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ¦"

It's possible those checking out Fire Hall 2 may find Lebeter still at work, serving his community.