Firey not retiring type
LONG-TIME Townsville firefighter Michael Quinlan is about to hang up his helmet after 44 years of service, but he’ll still be fighting fires.
The 64- year- old Wulguru station officer will retire from the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services and get straight to work as a volunteer firefighter with the Rural Fire Brigade.
“Strange as it may seem, I’m in the Rural Fire service as well … it’s my way of going back to supporting the community that paid my wage,” he said.
Mr Quinlan, now a father of three, began his career as a spritely 19- year- old, landing a job at the station in Southport on the Gold Coast in 1974.
He spent 11 years as a firefighter in the South Coast fire brigade, and moved to places like Woodridge, Cleveland and Mount Isa before coming to Townsville in 1990.
“Surprisingly, the highlights aren’t necessarily the fires or the jobs that we go to, it’s the guys on the job,” Mr Quinlan said.
“We have to rely on each other. The guy standing next to you might be saving your a***, you just don’t know.”
Through four decades of service, Mr Quinlan has watched firefighting technology and culture change, including a marked increase in the number of female col- leagues. He said firefighters were also facing new challenges, as people brought new combustible items into their homes, like lithium ion batteries and solar panels.
“I would say also that in the last 10 years of my career, the pace seems to have picked up,” Mr Quinlan said. “I seem to be going to more fires, structural and wild, than I did 20 years ago … hopefully that’s not a sign of my age.”
Mr Quinlan will join the Round Mountain Rural Fire Brigade, right after a trip to Europe with his wife.