Albany Fire Station to welcome Dux of Firefighting School 90 Thomas O’Brien

Former physical education teacher Thomas O’Brien is returning to Albany as one of the newest members of the Albany Fire Station. Graduating as dux of Trainee Firefighter School’s 90th cohort, Mr O’Brien said the change in career was due to missing the camaraderie that came with teamwork. Originally from the Wheatbelt, Mr O’Brien grew up between Kulin and Lake Grace on a farm but moved to Albany with his wife around a year ago. While he enjoyed teaching, he said he missed the community and environment that came with playing footy and saw it would be a similar atmosphere to firefighting. “I was doing a fair bit of teaching, which I really enjoy,” he said. “But what I need is the teamwork and camaraderie and that sort of thing you get from firefighting. “I spent a bit of time playing a fair bit of footy, but then I had to hang up the boots because I’d had a few too many head knocks.” What was supposed to be a 21-week course turned into 27 weeks, as industrial action took six weeks to resolve and cast uncertainty on when the recruits would finish, if they did finish at all. “That was fairly challenging, the industrial action component, because there was uncertainty surrounding that in terms of finish times, and whether we would actually finish or not,” Mr O’Brien said. “The biggest challenge I think, was the fact that my wife still lived in Albany while I lived in Perth and did the training. “And just the nature of being intense from a physical, mental, and emotional perspective. “I’m very grateful to my family and friends, and my wife in particular, for the effort that I’ve had to go through and endure. “With a course that is as challenging and time-consuming as it is, there’s not a lot of time that I was able to give to those people. “Being able to recognise their part in that process, I probably wouldn’t have been able to complete the course without their support.”