Dr Will Brooks

Will Brooks’ involvement with firefighting began at the age of 9 when he responded to his first working fire. Will’s father was a town councillor at the time. The senior Brooks took his young son to the fire hall at every opportunity.

One day, Will’s Dad was ill and asked his son to go to his workplace to get his pay check. Upon leaving his Dad’s factory, Will heard the fire bell ringing in the ladder house across the street and he climbed on the truck. He still remembers arriving at the scene riding on the running board of a 1936 Chevrolet ladder truck. The firefighters were surprised as they arrived to see the grass fire was knocked down by a mere lad wielding a broom!

The first fire truck Will owned was a 1951 Bickle-Seagrave fire engine. Will’s engine had its first home at Base Trenton in Ontario before it spent many years in Petawawa as the town’s first line pump. In 2008, he donated it to Camp Borden the home of Canadian Forces firefighter training. That same year, the fire engine Will had always dreamed of became available. It is a 1933 American LaFrance 750 GPM pumper seen below. She is known as “Matilda”.

1933 American LaFrance sentry for 2009 CFFF Ceremony

Although the seed was planted early, it would be several years after his childhood experience before Will donned turnouts of his own. This came in 1987 in Truro, Nova Scotia where he served as a firefighter, completed the Nova Scotia Fire School program, and eventually became Lieutenant of Rescue and Salvage and Lieutenant of a Ladder Company with the Truro Fire Brigade.

As well as a very amateur historian, Will is a retired psychologist, counsellor and educator. He worked for 15 years as Professor and Director of Student Services at the Nova Scotia Teachers’ College and, before that, two years as an Assistant Dean at Northern Illinois University. He has taught high school English and served on too many boards and committees to name.

Before retiring from private practice in 1995, he received various awards, mostly due to the Critical Incident Stress Management Program (CSIM) he helped develop with the Fire Officers Association of Nova Scotia, implemented and operated for Nova Scotia firefighters.

Between 1995 and 2010, Will resided in Ottawa, where he worked on numerous tasks, among them serving as the lead consultant to the Canadian Forces Member Assistance Program (CFMAP) and President of the Ottawa-Hull Military Family Resource Centre Board. At that time he also had the rare opportunity to travel with NATO to most of the major cities in the Western World where, you guessed it; he spent time immersed in the firefighting services each provides. This was only possible given his marriage to Colonel (now Retired) Cheryl Lamerson, CD², Ph.D. who was attending NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy.

Undoubtedly, Will’s most cherished work has been that of Founder to the Canadian Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Beginning in the late 1990s, along with Georges Potvin and Bill Williams, Will found the resources to start the ball rolling and host the offices of the Foundation in his home from 2002-2007. Under his direction, the Foundation formed a board of directors, established representation in all provinces and territories of Canada, initiated an annual memorial service on Parliament Hill, worked closely with government officials and parliamentarians and began fund raising for a monument, educational programs and services.

Before passing the torch to subsequent leadership of the Canadian Fallen Firefighters Foundation, Will and a dedicated Board of Directors achieved the agreement with the National Capital Commission and the initial plans with the Heritage Department for the creation of a national monument to Canadian firefighters killed in the line of duty.

He says none of this would have been possible without the incredible effort of many, many firefighters, interested Canadians in the public and each member of the Foundation Board of Directors.

After he stepped down, Will had 100 Founders coins made. Several people have them, and Will uses them to encourage new firefighters to think about their work and act safely. Others have it as recognition of the vital role they have played in the Foundation’s development.

Founder’s Coin

In November 2010, Will and his wife, Cheryl Lamerson, relocated to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia where Will has once again become an active volunteer firefighter. He is immensely proud to be part of the approximately 175,000 volunteer fire fighters in Canada and to be continuing his lifelong, active support of the Canadian Fire Service.

Will now spends much of his time writing about old fire engines, doing photography, building a private museum to hold his two antique fire trucks and the extensive fire memorabilia he has collected from around the world, and trying to be sure that at least one of his 5 grandchildren turns out to love the fire service as much as he does.