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"When it's a job you really love, you remember," James says of the fact he knew the exact day he became a member of the Peterborough Fire Department.

James, 59, is the veteran of the crew, the longest serving active member.

Back then, he says, when you walked in on that first day they handed you somebody else's used gear, and assigned you to a firefighter who showed you the ropes.

"It was on the job training," he says.

That gear they handed him included: rubber boots, a plastic hat, a three-quarter length canvass coat, a pair of plastic gloves, wool mitts, and a hydrant key.

Now everything is dedicated to the individual, James says.

"We have made a quantum leap in personal safety."

The masks fit perfectly, and the footwear itself is a huge boost, he says. Experience was everything back then, James says.

He reminisced about hanging on the back of the truck, holding on to a crossbar, while speeding to his first fire at Sir Sandford Fleming College.

"You relied on the veteran firefighters to lead the fight against fires," James says.

Today all that has changed with best practices and policies in place, he says.

"The experience is still there, and people are following proven guidelines," he says, adding the change was necessary and has proven itself over time.

Firefighters themselves have changed over the years, James says.

Before it was a lot like the military - you were given orders and you executed them, he says.

"Today we have highly educated and trained firefighters, and the expectation is that they will be part of the decision making," James says.

But, he adds quickly, that when he, the platoon chief, gives an order, he expects it done.

The evolution of the hiring process has also ensured everyone is trained and capable of handling the specialized technical rescue the department now covers: the high-angle, confined spaces, and swift water rescue, he says.

"So when we roll up to a situation we don't just assume someone in the crew has the expertise," James says. "Now we support a group that has been specifically trained."

The training and procedural policies also keep the fire department accountable, he says.

James, 2A platoon chief these days, says the department has always had the numerous responsibilities that define the modern department. "When no one had the answer to a situation, they called us," he says.

The fire department was the first service to embrace CPR as a part of their first aid efforts.

They administered oxygen when needed, and they were the backup crews for ambulance services, James says.

And before they were given extrication equipment, they still did that job - albeit with an axe, hose, ram, or whatever they had on hand - to safely get a person out of a vehicle.

The same goes for hazardous material cleanup, except they didn't have suits.

"We would go into a building with ammonia covered in Vaseline to protect us," he says.

Although covering yourself in Vaseline for protection may sound archaic, being a firefighter today is far more dangerous, he says.

With the amount of plastic and synthetic material in homes, if a firefighter walked into a house without a mask they would just fall to the ground, James says.

"When I started, you could take a crew into burning building knowing it was still structurally safe," James says. "You could also go into a house without a mask on and survive.

"A fire in a residential area is very dangerous because of the types of gas, BTUs and the possibility of early structural collapse," James says.

Homes today are filled with composite building materials, plastics and chemical compounds.

"Now we only have 10 minutes before it starts to collapse," he says. In his 36 years with the service the introduction of smoke detectors has made the most significant impact on lives, James says.

"You still get the structural damage, but people get out safely," he says.

Today, carbon monoxide detectors are the in-house safety item that is saving lives from the silent killer, James says.

And the next evolution in home fire safety is sprinkler systems.

The constantly evolving fire service, and its motto "Whatever the need," forces its members to be constantly training.

"You can't stop training," James says. "We don't have the option of coming back in a couple of weeks when we've learned how to handle a situation.

"After 36 years, I'm still interested," he says.

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