Rodez. Éric Auguste stores the fire hose at the emergency center

Originally from Decazeville, Éric Auguste is the image of the town of the basin. Hard worker like a laborer with a straight talker.

Yesterday, for his last day on duty which ends this Sunday at 7 a.m., many friends and relatives came to the Rodez rescue center to accompany him to spend these last hours. A volunteer firefighter who started in 1980 in Decazeville then in Rodez, on July 1 in 1994, to be closer to the work of his sweetheart, Régine, patient and attentive “who prepared my things”inseparable from his longevity in his profession.

A profession that has changed a lot, evolving with technological advances and interventions of which personal assistance now represents 85% of the approximately 16,000 interventions annually. “You have to know when to stop. I gave a lot of myself, I had a full life, conviviality is gold”he said with few words to express a lot of love towards this “big family.”

The trials of fire as well as other elements and hazards bring people together. “He is part of a generation who devoted all their time to work, we will no longer experience that”slide Franck, Christian and the others including some retirees who would not have missed the last day of the rest of their career for anything in the world. In return, they played a final joke on him. In happy memory of the intensity of friendship.

A final 24-hour shift is nothing compared to shifts of up to 72 hours. It was in the last century. He who only wants to talk about “beaux moments”a fan of forest fires, traces his expeditions to Corsica, Pierrefeu in the Var, Pennes-Mirabeau in Bouches-du-Rhône and even Bordeaux two years ago. His first column, as they say in firefighter jargon, dates back to 1986. It is helping others that becomes a friend.

Up at 5:30 a.m. to be at the barracks at 6:15 a.m. and take his shift at 7 a.m., Éric Auguste moves forward “to seek the pleasure of conviviality.”

This quest is verified during the sporting careers which led him to participate in around thirty French championships. Exemplary and a passion which passed it on to his sons, Kévin and Clément. Éric Auguste, who had Robert Fernandez as the first head of the center in Decazeville in 1980, knows how fraternity is not an empty word. It is sacred. Asking him if he plans to rest this Sunday, he rolls his eyes. Glory at work. Out of love for others.