GOODBYE TO THE CHIEF Exclusive Interview with Long-time Fire Chief Willie van Zyl After having been part of the Walvis Bay Fire Brigade for thirty years, Willie van Zyl has resigned his position as the Fire Chief. Nevertheless, he continues to train thousands of local residents about fire safety. In an exclusive interview with the Namib Independent, he related some of the highs and lows of his long career in the Fire Brigade. “It all started in 1984 when there was a vacancy at the Municipality for a Civil Protection Officer,” Willie said. “I was qualified and applied for the job, which I was granted in November.” Willie continued to say that after just two months, in January, the CEO of the Municipality phoned him and told him that he would like to see Willie. “I kept thinking, why does he want to see me, what did I do wrong,” Willie exclaimed. He described how he walked into a long big office with a short man waiting for him at the other end. “The walk seemed endless and when I reached the man he told me to follow him and led me around a cupboard. All of a sudden, I saw this big conference table with 12 chairs and all the important guys sitting around it, dressed up in their suit and ties. “Oh no,” I thought, “I have not even been working for two months and now I am called in here! I must be in some serious trouble,” Willie said. They made Willie sit down and asked him if he heard about what happened to their Fire Chief. “They told me that he tried to steal some foam with a company car and had been involved in an accident. Then they dropped the question that changed my life: Do you want to be the next Fire Chief?” How did Willie respond? “I told them that I know nothing about fires,” Willie answered. “The Mayor at the time then told me that it was very easy, you just put foam into the water and fight the fire, words that I remember up to this day,” Willie related. Willie agreed to become the Fire Chief, on the condition that he would get training. And so Willie went to South Africa to study and graduate as a firemen. “First I studied to become a junior fireman, and then I came back for a while. The next step was to become a fireman, so I went back to Johannesburg. Once I achieved that goal I completed the course for becoming a senior fireman over long distance. Once I graduated as senior fireman, I felt comfortable in my position as Fire Chief,” Willie said. READ MORE: issuu/namibindependent/docs/namib_indepedent_issue_121/5?e=8703760/9746974
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 09:49:48 +0000
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