It's the end of an era and the start of something new for Vernon Fire Rescue Services Capt. Allyson Reich.
Reich, Vernon's first female firefighter, had her last day on the job Wednesday, April 30, marking the end of a 24-year firefighting career, the last 20 of which she spent at the Vernon fire hall.
"There's tears imminent, but they're very happy tears," Reich told The Morning Star with about two hours left in her final shift. "It's strange to think that 20 years has come to a close."
Reich spent some moments in her final day before retirement wandering around the downtown fire hall and reflecting on the memories she's made there.
She joined the Sun Peaks volunteer fire department near Kamloops in April 2001, and there her career started off with a bang. The first fire she attended was in October of that year, when the nearly $40 million Delta Hotel in Sun Peaks went up in flames. That first fire ended up being the biggest of her career.
"It was my first taste of what it's like to be a firefighter," she said. "I've never had something that big since."
Reich was one of five female firefighters at the Sun Peaks hall by the end of her time there. When she came to the Vernon fire department, she was the first female firefighter in the city's history, but she said she was "100 per cent welcomed" by her male counterparts.
The fire hall quickly became more than a workplace for her.
"I'm an only child, so I had always hoped as a kid that I would marry into or have a very large family of my own," she said. "This has been an amazing surrogate family of 34 other brothers of varying ages that I've spent the last 20 years with, and it's been wonderful to have been part of the fire family and it'll always be something I hold really dear to my heart."
Reich stands as an example that women can achieve great things in firefighting, and she's spearheaded efforts to get more women into the profession. Last week, she ran the Firefighter for a Day program at the downtown Vernon fire hall, guiding a group of Grade 10 female students through a number of firefighting activities.
And Reich is passing the torch to Vernon's newest female firefighter, Kaitlyn Green, who will run the student training program in future years.
Reich got into firefighting wanting to help people, something she's carrying over to her next chapter. Having gone back to school, she recently received her registered clinical counsellor designation and starting Thursday, May 1, she's beginning a new career as a counsellor, focusing on helping emergency responders overcome PTSD and occupational stress injury in an office she's had set up and waiting for her for a couple months.
"I guess you could say I'm leveraging the experience that I've gained in this (firefighting) career to help me continue to help others in the next career," she said.
Around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, a dispatcher thanked Reich over the airwaves for her service to the community. Coming back through the radio system, Reich's voice was full of gratitude as she returned a few words of thanks for the opportunity to help people in Vernon every day for the last 20 years.
