The one thing he’s not going to miss is his pager.
For the past 42 years, whether it was a scanner or pager, it was either on or close by to Rochester Fire Chief Norm Sanborn Jr., unless he was on vacation. Whether it was in the middle of a cold winter night or a warm summer holiday, the unpredictable life of the firefighter was always just a tone away. Sanborn started as an on-call firefighter in 1975, was hired full time in 1977 and later rose up the ranks to chief in 2005. He announced last week that he will call it quits on May 31.
“I love this job,” Sanborn said reflecting on his career. “I enjoyed going to work. It doesn’t get any better than that.”