Toti Fire division commander, Kevin Lindsay (55) has retired.
As a mark of respect, his collegues and staff saluted him with a guard of honour when he drove off the grounds after his final shift on Sunday, 31 January.
Kevin was born in Estcourt and did his schooling in Pietermaritzburg, where he matriculated at Alexander High.
He joined the Durban Fire Department immediately after school. “I wanted to be an electrician, so I applied to the Railways. When I was told I had to do my apprenticeship in the Free State I joined the fire department for a temporary job and here I am 37 years later,” he said.
Kevin rose through the ranks from fire fighter to senior fire fighter and was enrolled in a station commanders course when he resigned in 1985 and moved to Pietermaritzburg.
He moved back to the coast in 1988, as one of his loves is rock and surf fishing. He met another of his loves while in Maritzburg, his wife Hilary, who was studying at Pietermaritzburg Varsity at the time. They were married in 1991.
He joined Toti Fire in 1988 as a fire fighter, before rising to the rank of leading fire fighter, sub officer (now station commander) and finally station commander (now division commander).
“As you get older, you don’t want to see change,” said Kevin.
In his retirement he is looking forward to hitting the open road in his fully kitted 4×4 for overland trips to Namibia and his favourite destination, Botswana. “I love camping and the remoteness and wilderness of Botswana, where the animals wander freely with no fences to keep them in. My ideal destination is Central Kalahari Game Reserve, where you have to be completely self-sufficient. You even have to take your own drinking water.”
Another of his retirement plans is to rebuild a 1984 Lotus Esprit to go with the Lotus 7 he currently drives.
“It was very emotional to finish my last shift at Toti Fire,” he said. “It was the end of 37 years of shift work and it is taking some getting used to.”
