ORILLIA — After 32 years with the Orillia Fire Department, Capt. Glenn Higgins is calling it a career.
The longtime firefighter retired on Dec. 30, when he was given a ride home in a fire truck — with his daughter, a fellow firefighter, along for the ride — to cap off his career.
Beginning in the early 1990s, Higgins climbed the ranks from a volunteer, to a first-class firefighter, to president of the fire union, to his ultimate role as captain, which he has held for the past 15-plus years.
“It's been a great career. They always say around here it's the best job in the world, and it's kind of become a cliche, but it truly is,” said Higgins, 60.
Although he fondly remembers his work, Higgins initially had no plans to become a firefighter, and he became a volunteer firefighter only after his brother-in-law encouraged him to join.
“I started off in the ranks as a volunteer in Orillia, and then the opportunity came up for a full-time position, and I was lucky enough to get it,” he said.
While he didn’t have early aspirations to become a firefighter, the adrenaline of the job, its strong teamwork, and the impact firefighters can have on the community kept him at it for over three decades.
“It's very rewarding, but it's exciting. It's different things every day, you know? You come in, you never know quite what you're into,” Higgins said. “It's a team sport. Everyone works as a team. Individuals can shine, but it's truly a team sport.”
Looking back, Higgins shared a number of memories from throughout his career, ranging from large fires to helping people out with smaller things — like a recent 3 a.m. call where the fire department helped a woman with her backed-up sump pump.
“A little thing for us makes a big difference,” he said.
One memory involved Higgins resuscitating the same individual two separate times — 10 years apart.
“I worked with a fellow at a factory in town here before I got hired, and we (defibrillated) him and brought him back to life on the street,” he said. “Ten years later, we defibbed him again and brought him back from a second heart incident, so that was kind of cool.”
Though there were good memories like those, there were also hard experiences over the course of Higgins’ career. Shortly after he became a full-fledged fire captain, Higgins was part of a call to put out a fire at Muskoka Heights, a retirement residence, in which four residents ultimately died.
“You’ll always remember lots of people's hardships, and we were able to help mitigate some of the hardships they had through some bad fires,” he said.
While he found the experience “unnerving” as a new captain, Higgins highlighted how good things can come from tragic losses like the fire at Muskoka Heights.
“It was a big fire, and it went to inquest,” he said “There were 14 recommendations from inquest — nine of them were put into the fire code and building code — and as of the beginning of 2025 all the provisions have to be implemented.
“That was tragic. The fire was a tragedy, but the good thing is there's changes made,” he said, such as the requirement for sprinklers in nursing homes.
As he moves into retirement, Higgins said he is looking forward to continuing his role helping restore old vehicles with the Orillia Heritage Centre, and he also plans to do a bit of travelling.
“I'm involved in kind of the old car hobby, and I’ll be doing some renovations around the house, and we've planned a trip to Mexico,” he said.
