Bartel retires following 27-year firefighting career

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This article was published 17/07/2020 (1809 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Contributing to the local fire department has been a bit of a family affair for Tim Bartel.

Bartel, who lives near Kleefeld, is retiring from the Hanover Fire Department. Bartel started as a firefighter, and served in roles including captain and assistant deputy fire chief in a 27-year career. He was also the RM of Hanover lead instructor and safety officer.

Among many others, Bartel has trained two sons-in-law, a daughter and nephews. His daughter is a firefighting instructor with the RM, as Bartel was.

“Because firefighting is a family, your family kind of melts into it as well,” Bartel said.

Bartel said he was unsure how many people he trained over the years, but figures it’s most Hanover firefighters, as well as others that have come and gone.

Hanover Fire Chief Paul Wiebe said Bartel was important to training and improving training.

“He’s been very instrumental in the success of our training program over the past 20 years,” Wiebe said.

The joy of helping others motivated Bartel in continuing to contribute to the fire department, but motivations weren’t exclusively altruistic.

“Fighting fires is quite the rush actually,” Bartel laughed.

Firefighting training consists of two levels, and there are other training programs, Bartel said, including training relevant to hazmat and confined spaces.

Training for new firefighters would last all winter, and would cover fire behaviour, fire control, how to fight fires and how to use ladders, among other things.

A lesson for trainees is furniture in one’s house is exceedingly dangerous, Bartel said.

“If I ever wanted to start a fire and start it fast in a house for training, I’d light a sofa up,” Bartel said.

Sofas can be flammable and fire can spread quickly due to confined spaces. In the 1960s and 1970s, a house on fire due to a burning sofa would take 30 minutes before it’d be unlivable. These days it’s closer to three, Bartel said, and fires these days are typically hotter than they used to be.

A house that becomes unlivable at a slower rate could give people more time to get out. But either way, the smoke kills more people by far than fire, Bartel said. People can die in hospital or suffocate in a burning house.

One reason for retiring, Bartel said, is macular degeneration in his eyes. Macular degeneration is a condition that can cause vision problems and difficulty adjusting from bright to dim light.

Bartel could still fight fires, he said, but added he’d been involved with the fire department for a long time and said it was time for the “new guys” to take over. In retirement, Bartel said he’ll miss the firefighters most.

The fire department has come a long way regarding equipment and training, Bartel said.

“Our public, especially in Kleefeld, has been exceedingly supportive.”