After 40 years as a firefighter in Vimoutiers, Didier Thouin returns his outfit

In Vimoutiers (Orne), Didier Thouin, affectionately nicknamed “Didou” It is ” the mascot of the fire and rescue center » underlines the captain, Nicolas Pestel.

“An example for everyone”

“He’s the pompinour of the barracks,” he adds with a smile, going on to say that he is above all “an example for everyone. “

He has forty years of service to the population! This remains exceptional.

“Didou is always there, both operationally and associatively with the Association, to which he happily lends a helping hand,” continues the center head.

“I will not go to the next medical examination”

In May, the sapper 1^D class (he never wanted to move up) Didier Thouin will return his outfit. A little constrained and forced all the same.

“It’s hard to stop and tell myself that this is over. But for my health, it’s better. I will not go to the next medical examination. I’m a little too wrapped up. My wife, Catherine, prepares me too many good meals,” he explains with a laugh.

A night job on the side

Because at 58 years old and four decades spent “staggered” in firefighter jargon, weariness has never overtaken him.

Even though he works night shifts at the Touques Caterer in Croisilles. This night job allowed him to be a volunteer firefighter during the day.

Valuable availability, because it is precisely during the day when the center experiences the most difficulty in gathering sufficient staff in the event of a call.

We have a steady pace here! We are often asked.

The CIS records 600 to 700 interventions per year.

Since the age of 18

Born in Vimoutiers, Didier Thouin, was enlisted at the age of 18. “It was the head of the center at the time, René Guichard, who came to see me to ask me to join them. I immediately said yes. I joined the center in May 1984.”

Trained directly in the field

He remembers “that at the time, we did not have all the training that we have now. We were trained directly on the ground, with the elders. Things have changed greatly in forty years! »

I saw the construction of the current barracks, the implementation of the departmentalization of the service in 1996, whereas before the firefighters were under the responsibility of the municipality, and the evolution of equipment.

“It’s certain, volunteering has become greatly professionalized.”

The interventions he still remembers

Asked about the interventions that most marked him, he remembers “this man who had both feet cut off by his tractor, around twenty years ago, in Camembert. That shocked me. The main thing is that we managed to save him.”

But also “the fire at Sodev, in an industrial zone, the storm of December 26, 1999 where there were interventions day and night”.

The most difficult thing for him was “when unfortunately there was a deceased person, to see the distress of the loved ones. It’s obviously touching.”

“I will continue in the Amicale”

Didier Thouin will leave the operational side, but there is no question of him giving up completely. “I will continue in the Association, with my little ones, in particular to do my calendar tour.”

He will also be present on the fire stand at the 24 hours national pedal car race on July 13 and 14, to “ensure maintenance”.

Because Didier Thouin cannot imagine breaking completely with his second family.

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