EXSHAW - Some people can go their entire lives without finding their passion, while others, like Lee Leibel, are not only lucky enough to find their passion, but are able to pursue it for the better part of three decades.
EXSHAW - Some people can go their entire lives without finding their passion, while others, like Lee Leibel, are not only lucky enough to find their passion, but are able to pursue it for the better part of three decades.
After 27 years of responding to emergencies, Leibel recently retired from the Exshaw Fire Department as one of its longest serving members.
"To me it wasn't a job, it was a passion," said Leibel, who joined the department as a volunteer firefighter when he was 32 years old.
"I'm going to miss it big time, but life goes on."
Dene Cooper, reeve for the Municipal District of Bighorn, had only fond words to say about Leibel's exemplary service during a council meeting on May 8.
"You have been a captain now for a long time and that comes with a lot of responsibility and you have exercised that amazingly well," said Cooper. "The respect that you've got from the community and fellow firefighters is commendable."
Born in 1959 in Empress Alta., Leibel spent his early years growing up on the prairies before his dad was transferred to a credit union in Banff in 1972.
As a 13-year-old, the move to Banff was a dramatic change from what he was used to, but a change that wouldalter the course of his life forever.
After graduating from Banff Community High School he got a job with Graymont in 1978 and soon met his wife Brenda, who he married two years later.
After getting married the two decided to move to Armstrong, B.C., where Brenda grew up, but without a lot of work the two decided to return to the Bow Valley in 1983 where he rejoined Graymont in the bagging end of operations.
By 1985, they moved to Little Kananaskis so he could be closer to work and decided to try his hand at firefighting.
"A friend I went to school with in Banff was in Exshaw and he was on the fire department and he asked if I was interested and I thought, what the heck, might as well," said Leibel. "I knew it would be challenging and I wanted to help the community."
About two-and-a-half years into his new role there was a changeover at the fire department so the fire chief approached Leibel and asked him if he wanted to be a captain for one of the crews.
Leibel jumped at the opportunity, which came with a lot of extra responsibility, including taking care of 10 other men who were now under his supervision.
"It's an important job and I knew it would help the community, so I stuck with it," said Leibel, who continued to work full-time at Graymont to pay the bills.
Among hundreds of emergency calls he responded to over his career, his first fatality remains one of his strongest memories.
"It was a car accident on the reserve. The driver lost control and hit a tree and was deceased," recalled Leibel, who had only been on the job for two months when he responded to the call.
"I didn't know how I would handle the so called blood and guts, people passing away."
As it turned out, Leibel said he handled it as well as he could, but it was something he will never forget.
"I got a lot of counselling from my captain, the guy who was in charge of our crew back then. He sat us all down and we did a debrief after it and then I thought about it for a little while and realized it's part of the job."
Twenty-seven years later, he said dealing with a fatality is still not easy.
"You never get used to that stuff," said Leibel, who was awarded an exemplary service medal in 2014 for serving more than 12 years. Al Hogarth, his co-captain, also received the medal.
Other notable moments in Leibel's career include the 2013 floods that swept through Exshaw, destroying dozens of homes and infrastructure.
"It was pretty devastating to see so many people have to leave their homes or evacuate," said Leibel, who lost his basement in the flooding.
"My house itself was the last thing on my list. We had to mitigate what was happening to everybody else first," said Leibel, adding Graymont gave him two weeks off to help with the recovery.
"We actually didn't do anything for a couple of weeks to the house because that's just the way it was. We were helping out in the community."
Reflecting on his storied career, he said he was proud of the work he accomplished over the last 27 years and was looking forward to building a new house with his wife in Enderby, B.C., not far from Armstrong.
"I accomplished something that I didn't think I could do and hopefully I've left an impression on the people that were on my crew, the young guys, and I think I have."
