By Pepper Parr
August 18th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
You have to have fought a fire and realized at some point that as a fire fighter you are truly in danger.
You have to have fought a tough blaze and learned when it was over that everyone didn’t make it out of the burning building.
That is what Fire Chief Karen Roche was talking about yesterday when she welcomed 11 new graduates to the Burlington Fire department.
She put it this way at the graduation event: “Our graduation event is always a great source of pride for everyone in the Fire Department. The new recruits have put in a lot of hard work to graduate and become full time firefighters, to serve the Burlington community and keep everyone safe. On behalf of everyone within the Burlington Fire Department, I welcome them to the family and am looking forward to working with them.”
Each recruit class is named for a fallen Burlington firefighter. This year’s class is proudly named the Tim Catterall Recruit Class of 2022.
Back row from left to right: Victor Paletta, Dan Prinsen, Tom Poliziani, Peter Dionisio, Alex Guptill, Caleb Cooze, Mike Moffat Front row from left to right: Stuart Buchanan, Matthew Manning, Lexis Ross, Zachary Tait
Why the ‘fish eye’ lens was used to take the class photo wasn’t clear – that is not what a fire engine looks like
Tim Catterall proudly served the citizens of Burlington for 29 years. He was a caring and capable firefighter that gave his all on every call, and ultimately gave everything he had to the Citizens of Burlington until his passing in 2018 with his recruitment classmates at his bedside. The presence of his fellow firefighters at his bedside exemplifies the tight bond that he developed with all he worked with and the bond that all firefighters share.
Tim’s compassion for his fellow firefighters, and fellow human beings shined through by his creation of the FACE (Firefighters Against Cancer’s Existence) foundation which raised thousands of dollars for the fight against cancer, as well as raising awareness and support for firefighters suffering this disease.
Tim would have been immensely proud to know that a class of Firefighters was named after him.
The new firefighters will be placed at various fire stations across Burlington.
