Long-time firefighter hanging up his hat

By Courtney Bachar/The Oshawa Express/LJI Reporter

After almost 30 years of running into the flames, Stephen Balas is trading in his fire boots for some golf clubs.

Balas was just 27 when he joined Oshawa Fire Services in 1990, adding his dad was also a firefighter, and says things were a bit different when he started.

“There was no such thing as 9-1-1 when I started, and the trucks were still open… you weren’t enclosed in a truck,” he says.

While there are now six fire halls in Oshawa, there were only four fire halls in the city when Balas started.

“The city has grown so much over time, but that made us busier and busier,” Balas says, adding when 9-1-1 came in, it integrated police, fire and ambulance and it brought all the emergency services together.

“It made such a big difference in terms of service for the city,” he continues.

Having worked the frontlines for almost three decades, Balas has witnessed a lot of things in his time, however, he says he tried to shy away from the negative stuff, deal with it in the moment and move on as best as he could.

“It’s tough day-to-day because you don’t really know what’s going to happen,” says Balas. “When you’re on scene, it’s usually hectic, there’s a lot of people around and there’s panic, but you have to stay focused and not get wound up in the adrenaline,” he continues, adding it’s especially difficult at night or when you get inside a building that’s full of smoke and visibility becomes an issue.

Bad things happen, you deal with it with the guys on your shift that were there and you try to move on as much as possible,” he says, adding one of the things he misses most is the team camaraderie.

“We had so much fun together. Everybody that’s on the job seems to really love their job,” he says adding that the guys on the team enjoyed spending time together both on the job and off the job, as a lot of the guys played hockey together.

“When I first started, hockey was a big thing,” he says, explaining that a lot of the guys were ex-hockey players and would play hockey together.

“We would play for the fire department. We won the World Police & Fire Games, we’ve won the Can-Am Police Fire Games, we’d win in the southern Ontario Firefighter Hockey League… it makes for a lot of great memories. I’m very happy for that,” he says, adding the team environment in sports also carries over into the fire halls.

Now, after almost 30 years on the frontlines and two surgeries in the last year-and-a-half, Balas says it seemed like the right time to hang up his fire hat.

“Having two major surgeries the same year… I’m not a spring chicken anymore,” he says.

An avid golfer, Balas can’t wait to get out on the golf course, although he says the current COVID-19 pandemic has put a slight damper in those plans.

“I thought when you retired you leave the department and then the next day you’re on the golf course, but that hasn’t happened yet,” he says, adding he’s taking the time to relax and is hoping to get out on the golf course soon.

“This is the time to get healthy, make sure I can stay healthy, and I hope for a whole lot of years of being retired.”