Farah Fahimi
Farah Fahimi has repelled out of helicopters to fight wildland fires in the muskeg swamps of northern Alberta. She has driven a private ambulance transporting cadavers. With a laugh she claims, “There isn’t much I haven’t done.” The worst job she ever tried: picking daffodils. The best: firefighting.
She became interested in firefighting while volunteering at St. John’s Ambulance. After hearing another volunteer talking about fighting forest fires, she signed up as a volunteer firefighter in the small town where she lived. The department, comprised of about fifty volunteers and a couple of full-time Chiefs, was a great experience. “There was a lot of training, even burning houses slated for demolition. The other firefighters, mostly older ex-military, were awesome,” she says.
These experiences led her to Alberta, where she applied to become a wild land firefighter. The physical wasn’t bad, as she recalls, but the six week boot camp was mentally and physically exhausting. She recalls it being the hardest thing she has ever done. To put things in perspective, after training, Farah was part of a Helitack Wildland team that would fly into the fire ground, repel from a helicopter and fight fire in for ten hours at a time. If she says the training was tough, it was.
After a couple of years of wildland firefighting, Farah obtained all of her structural firefighter certifications and moved to the lower mainland. For a time, she worked as an airport firefighter at Vancouver International Airport before being hired by the Surrey Fire Service.
All of these experiences have made Farah an asset to the Surrey and her fellow firefighters. Yet despite all of the hard work it took to get her to where she is she still feels like she won the lottery when she was hired. Receiving her brass belt buckle, stamped with her badge number, will remain one of her best memories.
If you are interested in becoming a career firefighter, please contact Tim Dykeman of Surrey Fire Service Recruitment at 604-543-6739.
Add new comment