After almost 40 years in uniform, deputy fire Chief Robin Cullen is calling it a career.
Cullen joined the Delta Fire Department as an 18-year-old volunteer out of Hall 4 in Ladner under volunteer Chief Gordon Huff.
"The rest was history," he says with a smile.
Born in Manitoba, the Cullen family moved to Delta in 1960 when Robin was just four. His father worked as a milk tester and the family settled in East Delta. Cullen grew up among the local farming families, and many of the men were also volunteer firefighters.
At 18, he decided he wanted to give it a try. He was building mobile homes at Boundary Bay Airport at the time and his employer allowed him to leave whenever a fire call came in.
Huff had high expectations for his young volunteers and let them know when they were out of line, Cullen says.
"It was the dedication and drive that Chief Huff portrayed to all of his firefighters or their personal safety and how much assistance that they could provide to the local residents, not only at emergencies but in their private lives, that gave me the inspiration and hopes of one day becoming a professional firefighter," he said.
Just two years after starting out as a volunteer, Cullen was approached about joining the department as a full-time paid firefighter. He accepted and on Sept. 1, 1977 became the 79th firefighter hired by the department.
He was one of the youngest paid firefighters hired in the department's history - former chief Gordon Freeborn was a few months younger when he was hired - and he is currently the longest-serving paid professional firefighter in the department.
He still remembers his very first call as a paid firefighter.
It was his first shift, a night shift, and the call came in just 10 minutes after he started. He was stationed at the old Hall 1 on Elliott Street in Ladner and the call came in as a garage fire.
The firefighters jumped on the truck and when they got to the scene, Cullen says he was told to grab the hose. Laughing, he says he had no idea what to do but he learned as he went with help from his fellow firefighters.
"The heart was pounding," he says, adding the reaction is the same with every call, even years later. "That doesn't change."
Over the years, Cullen has seen the department grow and change.
He was promoted to lieutenant and then captain. He became one of the department's first instructors in medical first response and assisted in developing the training program that has made the department the first in the Lower Mainland to be recertified as medical first responders.
The department is currently in the process of expanding to have firefighters certified as emergency medical responders.
Cullen also spent 11 years on the executive for the firefighters' union, IAFF Local 1763.
"These were some of my proudest moments in being part of the fight for raising the standards and benefits of professional firefighters," he says.
Cullen also relished the lighter side of the profession as one of the original directors of the Delta Firefighters Charitable Society, which raises and distributes thousands of dollars to organizations and individuals in the community every year. He dressed up as Sparky the Fire Dog at the annual magic show and spent countless hours raising funds during the department's yearly boot drive for muscular dystrophy.
In December 2003, Cullen was promoted to deputy chief.
"It has been personally rewarding and challenging for me but at the end of the day knowing that you did your best with what you were given is all that one can have hoped to have achieved," he says.
Cullen says he's looking forward to downsizing to a newly purchased condo in Tsawwassen and spending more time with family, including his young grandson and another grandchild on the way. He is also planning on doing some traveling, and isn't wasting any time. Cullen's last day with the department is Friday and on Saturday he and his wife will be off on a Caribbean cruise.
"Over the years I have been privileged to work with a lot of special people, learning a lot from each and every one," he says. "I can't begin to list them as I would forget to mention some. None of us can do the job alone without the help of others. It takes a team working together to keep everything moving in a positive direction... I simply would like to thank everyone that is still working with Delta Fire (Department) and those that have retired before me in making this career such a positive, inspiration time of my life."
