ON December 31, 2006, Arthur Raynor retired from the Bermuda Fire Service having devoted 30 years protecting life and property on the island. As described by his colleagues, he is one of the island's lesser-known heroes, his efforts as a firefighter just as impressive as the many positive contributions he has made to the community. An e-mail signed by "a few of his work partners" highlights a few of his achievements: "He is classed as one of the most recognised and loved firefighters in Bermuda amongst the thousands of local school children who looked forward to his annual Fire Safety Show complete with puppets, magical, fun, music and fire safety learning. He was the firefighter chosen to appear in the locally-produced Dejon Simmons TV documentary as one of the people credited with saving his life. He has also been featured in The Royal Gazette a number of times, with the last article on his Hogg coin find. From volunteering his free time for years doing free computer tech support at one of the local schools, to serving as a Big Brother, to putting on a one-man "say no to drugs" programme at school assemblies throughout the island, to teaching young children, to being a Scout leader, helicopter pilot, scuba diver — the list of his accomplishments goes on and on." This week, Mid-Ocean News reporter Heather Wood and photographer Glenn Tucker met with Mr. Raynor. Q: Why did you become a firefighter?

A: It's been a lifelong dream. I guess when I was about seven I became interested in fire trucks and said: "One day I'm going to grow up to be a fireman."<$>Q: Was anyone in your family a fireman?

A: No. No one. It was just one of those things. I just wanted to be a firefighter. And as time went on it just became even more of a dream.

Q> And initially it was just the fascination with fire trucks?

A: I was brought up in Flatts Village. There was a barn fire there one day. Trucks came and the firemen jumped off with the big hose — it was just like the television stuff. It was then that I decided I really wanted to be a fireman.

Q: And you kept that as your goal as you got older?

A: I went to primary school at Harrington Sound. I attended highschool at the Bermuda Technical Institute and then it sort of changed. I wanted to become an architect or a teacher. I was really leaning towards an architect but once I finished school I went to work for J.B. Astwood — a cycle mechanic — and from there I went down to the Bank of Bermuda for five years. One of the ladies I worked with, her husband was a firefighter. She said: 'My husband says they'll be hiring firemen shortly, you should try out'. I wasn't too sure. But they had a volunteer programme back then, so I joined the volunteers. I was there for a year and decided, yeah this is it. The childhood dream came back.

QB>What was your first big fire?

A: I can't remember. There were a lot of brush fires, particularly in Pembroke at the dump. But I guess the first major fire was during the riots in '77 or '78. There were fires everywhere.

Q: Was that scary?

A: Yes. Because it was the real thing. The fire was there. It was ready. Make a mistake and it's got you. What year did you officially join?

A: I joined in '76 as a volunteer and in '77 became full-time.

Q: How much training was involved?

A: Our training was very short. Now they have official training periods of three or six months but then it was just basic training — a week or so of basic stuff. You just basically learned as you went along.

A: I was a senior firefighter and an EMT also — an Emergency Medical Technician. I was in the first group to be qualified in Bermuda. Traditionally in America firefighters run ambulance services. Very few hospitals actually run an ambulance service like they do here. And so when the ambulance comes, it's manned by firefighters.

Q: Have you seen a great change in the service from when you first started?

A: Oh yes. Training is a lot more advanced. There's better equipment. You have dedicated training officers. You have options for overseas training — Canada, England or North America depending on the type of training you need. During our EMT training initially we trained at (King Edward VII Memorial Hospital). We (spent) 40 hours in the Emergency Department, actually working with doctors and nurses in Emergency including triage, which is assessing people before the doctors see them. We were the first people they saw to determine the level of their emergency.

A: Another thing that really helped me is the Bermuda Regiment always takes one or two (medics) when they take their soldiers away (for training). I had the opportunity to do that. But firefighting is such a wide scope. We do things that no one else can do in Bermuda and our training has to reflect that. We do electrical training just like an electrician, hydraulics work, building construction, building theory — all of that comes into effect. We do building inspections on all the new buildings going up. Because we have a fire prevention division too, they play a major part in building, working with (the Department of) Planning. Buildings are not passed until they meet fire code standards.

Q: Are there different methods of attacking a fire?

A: Yes there are. And you have to know that too. If you have, say a gas fire, and you use the wrong extinguishing medium — you use water instead of foam — if you use water on a gas fire you make it bigger. If you use water on an electrical fire you can electrocute yourself. Electricity can travel through the water.<

Q: Did you see any actual accidents with firemen while you were working?

A: No. We're pretty safe. Just minor cuts and things like that. We're an extremely disciplined service.

Q: Were you called to work on the Belco fire that caused an island-wide power outage last summer?

A: Yes. We rotate (between) Clearwater, Hamilton and Port Royal (branches). I was assigned to Port Royal that night. Hamilton, I think, initially went to Belco. Because of the power outage, alarms were going off all over Hamilton so they asked us at Port Royal to come down to investigate the fire alarms that were going off. We figured that, because all the lights were out, there was a problem that had happened. We were driving down in total darkness. I remember that the only light was that of a cruise ship in Dockyard. I think we were responding to the Bermuda Underwater Institute on East Broadway, to check out an alarm that was activated there, but before we reached there they said: "There's a major fire at Belco. Forget everything else. Come to this". That would be my most frightening fire in 30 years. I've had the Southampton Princess — that was a pretty bad fire — but (Belco) was really scary. The roar, the flames. Electricity fires are really, really scary.>

Q: People hear of road fatalities and other types of serious injury and think of the police or ambulances going to assist but firemen go as well don't they?

A: Yes. The worst things I've dealt with in the past couple of years are the shootings. We're EMT so, particularly in the western or eastern areas, we're responding first. Even though the ambulance is dispatched at the same time if you're at the eastern or the western end, it could be ten minutes before the ambulance arrives. That's the purpose of first respondents. We're there for all the injuries — machete attacks at parties and stuff. When you call for an ambulance, we are also dispatched.

Q: Is that difficult emotionally?

A: In the last year, maybe two years, I've started having some sort of, I wouldn't say psychological, but definitely an emotional response mainly because (the incidents are taking place) so close (to each other). We used to have one road fatality and then, maybe six months later, another. Okay. But these things today are so close — the gunshots, the fatalities, the attacks. During our initial training we covered gunshots and snake bites because we were trained to the US standard but when we got to that section, the instructor was like: "Snake bites?" and moved onto the next section. Gunshots, the same thing. The assumption was we didn't have to worry about that. Not in Bermuda.>

Q: Did you see anything unusual in your 30 years' service?

A: You get any and everything. There were some unusual incidents. I remember a horse had fallen into a tank. We had to get him out. He didn't want us to get him out. It's things like that that you don't even train for, that we encountered.

Q: Aside from that I understand you're involved with just about every charity under the sun? A: Yes. I've done a lot. The first I guess, I started with St. Brendan's (now the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute). They had a volunteer programme. Other things I've done — Big Brothers, I joined them and had a little brother that I helped (along). I've always wanted to just help. I have a lot of friends who are teachers and as I said, I once wanted to be a teacher. I really like working with children/B>

Q: Your colleagues mentioned your involvement in a computer programme at a local school. What was involved in that?

A: I went to Paget Primary one day, I'm not sure what for. They had a bunch of computers there — I was deep into computers also — donated by one of the insurance companies, ACE or XL. They had just been sitting there. Nobody had put them together or set them up and so I said, 'I can do that'. I checked them out, they didn't have some of the parts, I got a few things. They had a lab of very, very old computers and so maybe like, two days a week, I would go in there (and make improvements). It was similar to how I started my programme, Say No to Drugs. I first (introduced) it a few years ago (speaking at various) school assemblies. (But) I think that Paget Primary was one of the first where I did the show. It's like my adopted school. There was a point where they even gave me a set of keys — so I could come and check the computers. But I've always given — at church, at schools, wherever I could, non-stop. Every week, even now, I get calls. I did (the) Matilda Smith (Williams Home for seniors) — they wanted me to come down and give out gifts at Christmas. I did St. Paul's in Paget — the same thing but to the children. I'm always willing to go and speak or do whatever.

Q: How did the shifts work with the Fire Department?

A: They used to have a four days on, four days off system. We had two day shifts — nine in the morning until six in the evening. We did that two days, back to back. And then we'd come off and have two night shifts — six at night until nine the next morning. And then we'd have four days off. The old shift we worked 24 straight hours and then we were off for three da

Q: And I guess that was when you did your volunteer work? On the off days?

A: Yes. I also worked part-time. Most of us had part-time jobs. I've worked with water trucks, I drove a truck for the Market Place, I did furniture moving, I worked at the old Naval Base — I could fill newspaper stories with my experiences there. I washed dishes. I made a lot of good friends. It was pretty interesting.

Q: Did your parents give much of their time to charity?

A: I grew up basically with just my mom. She was a single parent. I never really knew my father. He was American, assigned here to the military base. I began volunteering because it was just something I could do. Like I said, I really like to help. I teach in the church, I've been a Scout leade

Q: Any idea how many fires or incidences you were called out on?

A: We'd have to do cross-training (spending time as) drivers, firefighters and dispatchers. I'm going back ten years to my work as a dispatcher — we'd average 700 calls a year and I'd say I (was involved in) one-quarter of those. So it's in the thousands.

Q: Do any particularly stand out?

A: The ones that really affected me were anything involving children. Children are so innocent and most times it's because of an adult that they're hurt. On one incident I was doing triage at the Emergency Department and a child came in with its face messed up. Whenever I see that I always know it's because they've been in an accident in a car or on a bike. Usually the child's been standing up in the front seat - this is pre-seat belt law — the parent hits brakes and the child goes smash into the window. We were always required to ask the parent what happened. This time such a feeling came over me. I wanted to smash this person in the face so (they) could know what it's like, so they would understand what they had done to their child. But then I stepped out and caught mys.

Q: So you'd agree that firefighting is something that's definitely not for everybody?

A: No. You have to be quick-thinking. It's a type of job (for which) you need aptitude. You need mathematical abilities. You need writing skills — you have to write reports and appear in court and give evidence. You also need to be physically fit as well as emotionally fit. You can have a person that can lift weights which is great because they have to be able to carry a person down a ladder. But you might have somebody who can carry a person down a ladder with no problem but they can't spell their name. And vice versa — someone with ten GCE's and they're afraid of heights. They have to be able to wear the smoke masks that we have, they have to be able to (work in) confined areas — some people can't take that. So trying to get all those factors will give you the ideal person.

Q: You mentioned driving. How difficult is it to master a huge truck travelling at speed on Bermuda's roads?

A: Time is very important. We have to get there. You're no good to anybody if you can't get there. We don't have an official speed limit but you (have to gauge) your ability, your comfort level, to get there safely. If someone's not breathing you have four to six minutes to get there and save their l.

Q: Aside from driving, any challenges in that?

A: Instructions are very important. One of the problems I see a lot is where people have defaced road signs. They've scratched out the name and put their neighbourhood type things, put gang names. That there hinders us. If I'm looking for Astwood Drive and you have Astwood Drive, Astwood Lane and Astwood Boulevard all in the same area and these names are scraped off — that two, three minutes trying to find which is right can make a difference.

Q: Now that you've retired, how will you speyour time?

A: I'm going to be busy. My Just Say No to Drugs show, I haven't done that for maybe — I did a mini thing last year but I haven't done one properly for about four years. Initially it started because I thought that Government wasn't doing enough to reach the pre-school age. By ten, 11, 12, it's too late. And so I'm going to revamp that. Just sort of modernise it. That's one thing I'm planning to do. That and stuff around the house — there's plenty to keep me busy. I have a lot of hobbies. Reading is my number one hobby, metal detecting is one hobby and I collect military memorabilia. And I'm getting calls from schools and churches (for speaking engagets).

Q: Your age?

A: 52.

Q: Is that early retirement?

A: No. We only have to do 25 years service. So it's 25 or 55 years (of age) — whichever comes first. I did 3ears.

Q: What did you think of your colleagues and their desire to see you honoured publicly?

A: I was surprised. I was just overwhelmed. All along they've said they don't want me to leave. A couple of the younger firefighters have mentioned how I mentored them, unofficially, how I took them under my wing and they learned a lot from the experience. I'm proud of what I did. It's been a good 30 years.