After 65 years with the Kentville Volunteer Fire Department (KVFD) in Kentville, N.S., Clem Fairclough is retiring. His lengthy career has established him as the longest-serving firefighter in the department’s history. If it were up to Fairclough, now 85, he would have worked even longer. But after a firefighting-related colon cancer diagnosis in April 2025, he’s been winding down from his professional role. “The particles in the smoke, that sort of thing over time gets in your body and causes that,” he says. But looking back on his extensive career, he says “I wouldn’t change a thing.” “I would have liked to have finished a little better than I am right now… But other than that, it feels pretty good,” says Fairclough of his retirement, which takes effect on Wednesday. He joined the firefighters in 1961 at the age of 20, a few years after moving to Nova Scotia from England. Crews were fundraising for a new fire truck at the time. “They came to my house so I gave them some money and I asked the question, ‘How do you join?’” he recalls. “They were back the next night with an application form and I filled it out.” Fairclough says he must have checked all the boxes for the department, because it wasn’t long before he was on a truck. In 1967, he became a lieutenant, then captain in 1969. “It is dangerous,” he admits. “But it’s a lot of fun as well. The camaraderie in the fire troops, it’s exceptional.” He speaks of friendships forged while fighting fires that extended beyond the job. In 2015, when he fell from his bicycle and broke his hip, one of his teammates fixed up an accessible set of stairs at Fairclough’s home to use after weeks in the hospital. “I came home and there’s a beautiful set of steps,” he says. Fairclough has witnessed many changes and innovations over the span of his career. He says he’s worked under eight chiefs and seen the department implement pagers, self-contained breathing apparatus, thermal imaging cameras, and larger trucks with bigger pumps and hoses. The KVFD has an antique fire truck, a 1935 Chevrolet pumper. Fairclough is the only remaining member of the department to have ridden on it before it was retired. “When I tell children that when they do the tour, I tell them, ‘I used to fight fires on that truck,’ the kids will say, ‘Boy, you must be really old,’” he laughs. At age 65, Fairclough was still a member of the high-angle rescue team and trained younger firefighters to tie knots into his 80s. “To me, it’s very important these guys get the proper training,” he says. In 2012, he stepped back from front-line firefighting and filled the role of accountability officer. The department estimates Fairclough attended roughly 8,200 fire alarms in his career. “I’ve gone to a lot of fires, I’ve gone to a lot of accidents, we’ve had to deal with a lot of deceased people on the roadside and it’s pretty rough,” he says. He says he’s been alright with handling the difficult sights of the job. When responding to these tough calls, his approach is to take things one step at a time. “You have a job to do, do the job, don’t look at the damage, the blood, don’t look at that,” he says. When asked what advice he would give to his 20-year-old self, Fairclough responded: “If there’s any one thing that you want to do, if you can of course, is join the fire troops.” For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
