ONE of Okehampton's longest-serving firefighters retired from the service after a presentation in the town recently.
John Pellow became a retained firefighter in 1968 and during his time with the service was promoted to leading firefighter and finally sub-officer.
Ian Donovan, station officer at Okehampton, said: 'John has given 32 years of loyal and dedicated service and has provided extremely good cover to the town.
'It isn't easy to replace somebody with that sort of commitment and dedication.'
Mr Donovan said firefighters were generally on call 24 hours a day, often seven days a week.
'People have no idea of the commitment to the job — not many people can do it,' he said.
The reception for Mr Pellow was held at the Plume of Feathers in Okehampton.
He was presented with a plaque and certificate by divisional officer Mike Nevitt and gifts from the firefighters in Okehampton.
Mr Pellow said: 'I was always interested in doing that kind of thing — we had a couple of chaps at work who used to work for the fire service and my father-in-law was in it. When one of the chaps retired I took his place.'
He said he missed being involved in the fire service and often saw the team as they have to pass his house when they are going on a 'shout'.
'I don't miss it when they come past at four o'clock in the morning, though!' he added.