Chief John McFarlan will retire next week after dedicating 40-years of his life to Zorra Fire and Emergency Services.
ZORRA TOWNSHIP - The Township of Zorra is getting set to say goodbye to their Fire Chief next week.
John McFarlan is retiring after 40 years with Zorra Fire and Emergency Services, including the last 9 years as the Chief. He started out with the Thamesford station in 1981, replacing his father who was working at the Thamesford Station at the time. He worked his way up through the ranks serving as a firefighter, captain, deputy district chief and district chief.
He says things sure have changed over the years.
"Well the technology advancement in the fire service is immense, the training requirements and the abilities of individuals and the requirements of the volunteer system now, we are identical in training in what we do with that of a full time firefighter."
McFarlan is looking forward to spending more time with his family and friends and plans on doing a lot of fishing. He is also going to miss a lot of things about the role.
"I love the job, I love getting up every morning to come to work to take on the challenges of the day and what has transpired. I am definitely going to miss the people and the friendships and memories that have been made over the 40 years. It's one thing for a fire chief to sit at the helm, but you got to have a good team underneath it and that Zorra Fire has."
Deanna Kirwin will take over as Chief on July 15th. You can read more about that online here.
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