Fireman looks back on 25 years of fire fighting

Toti fireman Shaun Reed (46) celebrated 25 years on the job last month.

Shaun, who is also the owner of Reptile World, joined the Toti fire station in 1988 after serving on the Angola border in his army days.

“I was a little arsonist when I was young, but I thought becoming a fireman was a good way to give back to the community,” he said. “I love the excitement of the job. At times it can be dead, but then we get extremely busy. People think firemen only eat Bar Ones, play snooker and fight fires, but we attend motor vehicle accidents and offer medical assistance as we all have medical training, and we do water rescues.”

Shaun works two days and two nights on, with four days off. “Day shift is from 9am to 6pm and night shift is from 6pm to 9am. When we are on duty we don’t leave the fire station, except for call-outs. We have a gym, kitchen and beds there.” Five firemen make up a squad and unlike in the movies, all five ‘do everything’ from driving the fire truck to manning the hose. Their area extends from Twini Hill to Umzinto and inland to just before Eston.

The Warner Beach fireman was born in Vereeniging. He moved to Toti when he was 16-years-old and matriculated at Kingsway. He has two sons Kyle (19) and Justin (17). “I helped deliver both my sons at Kingsway Hospital.”

To relax, Shaun heads out to nature. “I love nature reserves, fishing and snakes. My favourite place to camp is the Albert Falls Dam and Nature Reserve.”

“The training to be a fireman is hard and to get in is a nightmare. You have to be fit and the job is physically, mentally and emotionally challenging. Dealing with the dead is the hardest part for me, but you get used to it. It can be extremely dangerous as we often go into toxic areas. Both my lungs collapsed years ago while fighting a fire and I ended up in Kingsway for three weeks. But I love the job, it’s my passion.”