Unlike other children growing up, Alex Marshall didn’t dream of becoming a firefighter, but after moving to High River, teammates on his hockey team talked him into joining a few practices at the fire department.
“I started going to some practices and just fell in love with it,” Marshall said. “I didn't dream of this as a career, but it's been about 20 years, and it just blossomed into this career.”
Marshall joined the High River Fire Department as a volunteer for about three years before joining full-time for close to a decade.
He then took a fire captain position for the Foothills Fire Department, working out of the Heritage Pointe Fire Hall for about three years.
“The opportunity came last September for deputy chief with the Foothills Fire Department, so I had applied for that and jumped at that opportunity, and I've been doing that role since,” Marshall said.
Most recently, Marshall has taken on the role of acting chief while the department searches for a permanent candidate to fill the position.
The transition from each fire department was relatively seamless, as Marshall explained that each organization in the area fulfills mutual aid agreements and works closely together.
“Even though I worked in High River, if there was a call in Foothills County, we would still deploy to that call, and we would train and do courses with the Foothills Fire Department,” he said. “You get to know the firefighters at each hall.”
The most significant change for Marshall was when he transitioned from a firefighter role to a captain, as he was then running a crew of firefighters and had more responsibilities.
Through his role as captain, Marshall oversaw Foothills Fire Department training, organized courses, and ran a crew.
The Foothills Fire Department consists of roughly 60 volunteer firefighters and 16 full-time firefighters.
The department hosts training courses throughout the year for both volunteers and full-time members.
The expectation is that full-time members train every day as a crew.
“Training can be whatever they need to work on, whether it's medical skills or practicing pulling handlines and spraying,” Marshall said.
Volunteer members train once a week, with the session being led by the captains of each station.
“We set out a guideline of subjects for them to work on each month, so everyone's training on the same subject at the same time,” Marshall said.
As the acting chief, he is now responsible for the six fire halls in the county and maintaining relationships with neighbours.
“It's quite a difference. Now I come in and I deal with the day-to-day problems, broken trucks, staffing, recruitment, and mutual aid agreements between our neighbours,” Marshall said. “It's been a steep learning curve and quite a busy one for sure.”
In addition to the administration side of running the fire department, Marshall is on call, ready to respond at any time of the day for one week at a time.
“The Foothills Fire Department always has a senior officer on call at any given time, so if there's a large event, we will respond to it,” Marshall said. “The crews typically handle the medical calls and the smaller vehicle accidents, but any fires, the senior staff will be coming to help with or whatever our guys need.”
Throughout his career, Marshall is proud of the progression he’s made.
“I'm always striving to learn and take on more challenges,” he said. “I'm pretty proud of the progress I've made.”