Adam Prudhomme
Editor
From his start as a volunteer firefighter in 2006 to climbing the ladder to deputy chief with Greater Napanee Fire Services, Kevin Duncan has seen just about everything during his career.
Earlier this month he hung up his bunker gear for the last time, retiring after 27 years with the town.
Though he’s responded to countless emergencies, his most memorable moments are of the charity car washes, Terry Fox Runs and various fundraisers he’s taken part in over the years.
“It’s been a good ride,” said Duncan. “I think the biggest thing that I’m most proud of is just being to do so much in the community, having a mechanism through the fire department to be able to do that. If there’s anything to be remembered by, I guess that would be it.”
He’s also given back through his role as instructor with Loyalist College’s Pre-Service Firefighter Education and Training program, helping to usher in the next generation of firefighters.
Whether it was with his students or his colleagues, he says he always stressed how fortunate they are to get to put on a firefighter’s uniform.
“I push that on people and I say that, this is an amazing career, don’t take it for granted,” said Duncan. “Don’t get lazy. Don’t get complacent, always do the right thing when you come to work and remember why you’re here. It’s not about me. It’s not about this place, it’s about everybody else and maintain that throughout your entire career. Maintain that passion, maintain that drive. If you don’t think you can, Tim Horton’s is always hiring. Goodyear is always looking for people. There’s other jobs out there that maybe you’re better suited for. This is not the location to be complacent and not passionate or compassionate.”
He says that applies for anyone that dons the uniform, regardless of their position.
“Paid on call, volunteer, we show up at 2 a.m., they don’t care,” Duncan said of the public. “They’re just seeing firefighters show up. Paid on call, full-time doesn’t mean a thing to the public. You want a capable, compassionate person showing up on the worst day of your life. That’s all you care about. Male, female, black, white, LGBQ, nobody cares. Capable and compassionate, that’s all you want.”
Reflecting back on his career, Duncan said the department’s record of safety and fire prevention was a major source of pride. Compared to other neighbouring communities, Greater Napanee has long boasted a reputation for having a low rate of fatalities and few major fires. H also noted actually fighting a blaze is just a small percentage of what they actually do.
“If you’re joining the department because you think you’re going to be fighting fire every day-wrong,” said Duncan. “If you think you’re going to be fighting fire once a month-wrong. If you think you’re going to be saving babies at the orphanage-wrong. Let’s hope that never happens. There are definite times of drama and definite times of excitement, but the majority of what we do is mundane. The same thing over and over again because that’s the nature of the business. We still fill a role, absolutely. But that’s a lot of what we do.”
“People see the red trucks fly down the road and think that’s all the fire department is,” added Duncan. “That’s a very small percentage of what the fire department is. The bigger role is the public education, the prevention, the community work, the fundraising, the doing good that don’t involve the trucks at all. It involves human beings in uniforms that are stellars of the community.”
Preventing a fire before it even happens is always the goal-even if that’s not as flashy as battling an inferno.
“I always tell people when we have a fire, there’s been a failure. Maybe we haven’t done our job. Some things you can’t help for sure, accidents do happen. But our goal should be to prevent injury and loss,” said Duncan.
That includes encouraging homeowners and landlords to install working smoke detectors.
“Tragedy, but if they’re standing and watching their house burn, that’s a win for us. Why? Because we put the smoke alarms in for them,” he said.
It’s those little things, like responding to a call at a location they had previously visited during an inspection and seeing the family got out safely are the times Duncan says he feels like he saved a life.
Through CPR, he’s been able to restart a heart a handful of times, only to have that person pass away later in hospital. Chances are when they have to pull an unconscious person from a building, they’re outlook is grim. Nothing can replace the early warning of a smoke detector.
Kevin Duncan rescues a dog from a fire on Bridge Street in February 2022. Photo by @DeputyChief812
“I pull a dog out of a house, it looks dramatic with fire in the back,” said Duncan, recalling a photo that made the rounds in social media a few years ago. “Dog was sitting on the couch, I just picked it up and walked out with it. Right shot, just happened to look really dramatic. Thousands of hits, ‘oh my God, you’re a hero.’ No. I’ve been a hero hundreds of time in my career because I’ve put smoke alarms in. That’s heroic. It’s not glamorous. It’s not front-page news. It doesn’t get you 1,000 tweets. But that’s more important ultimately.”
After getting his start as a volunteer, he accepted a full time role in 2011, serving several different roles, including fire prevention officer. In 2022 he accepted the job as deputy chief, knowing full well his time within the position would be short.
“Being in this role allowed me to make some positive changes I think in certain directions so I’m very happy about that,” said Duncan. “Obviously not everybody is going to say the changes have all been good, and that’s fine. It’s a good time for me to get out. I think it’s a transition time here, obviously with the municipality itself there’s lots going on. It’s not all positive, there’s some negative stuff. I always said to myself if it got to where coming here was a job then it was time to leave.”
He gives way to James Feeney, who joins Napanee after serving a similar role with Loyalist.
“Moving forward I think the department is in a good state. Chief Feeney, he’s a good guy, I like him. He’s got some good ideas to make some changes here as well,” said Duncan.
As for the outgoing deputy, Duncan says he won’t be going far and he’ll continue to be active in the community.