After giving his blood, sweat, and tears to the City’s Emergency Management Service (EMS) for the past 40 years, the 65-year-old Divisional Chief of the EMS Training Academy in Region C is speeding off into retirement with sirens blazing.
Johannesburg, South Africa (04 April 2022) – Malcolm Midgley was eight when he began admiring the fire trucks driving past his Randburg home. He knew then that he was going to become a firefighter.
“All in all, it was a pleasant experience, and I would do it again, and I would continue doing it if I could,” says a super-fit Midgley, who does not look a day older than 50.
His only regret is that he should have joined the EMS earlier. At 16, Midgley started working as a motor mechanic at a local company for seven years. One day, he drove past the Randburg Fire Station and told himself.
“That’s where I want to be.”
In February 1980, he finally plucked up enough courage to go into the Randburg Fire Station, and four months later, he was appointed as a junior firefighter. Midgley still has a vivid recollection of his first day at work. He arrived two hours earlier, at 07:00 that Sunday morning. His mindset and unwavering passion allowed him to grow and move up the ranks. He was later promoted to fireman.
In 1982, he received his paramedic qualification, ahead of being promoted to a senior fireman and leading fireman in 1984.
From 1992 to 1994, Midgley worked in private emergency service for two years. In April 1994, he returned to the EMS and joined the Roodepoort Fire Station. He was promoted to Divisional Officer in Charge of Fire Prevention for Roodepoort in 1996. Shortly thereafter, in 1998, he moved to the ambulance training division and later to operations.
In 2001, he got an exciting opportunity when Cllr David Tembe, the then director of operations, appointed him as a full-time spokesperson for the EMS, a position he held until 2008. In 2012, when the medical academy became short-staffed, Midgley stepped in, and since then he has been involved in the training of paramedics.
One of the highlights of his career was when he delivered his first baby on 1 April 1982 from the back of a bakkie at the Randburg Fire Station. A tragic incident he remembers is the Westdene Dam bus accident on 27 March 1985. He was a station officer at the time, and 42 children died in the accident.
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Midgley says the last four decades in the City went by quite fast.
“Some of the things I remember as if they were yesterday, and others you put out of your mind because they were tragic. Some you’ll never forget, like the baby I delivered and the birth of my children and grandchildren.”
The best memories over the years were being involved in teaching. He loves encouraging people to stretch out of their comfort zones.
“I enjoy teaching and getting people to understand the job we do, which is to serve the residents and remain humble. You’re a servant of the people. Everyone has to be looked after, and it was my passion, and this made me wake up in the morning.”
Midgley has swum the Midmar mile in KwaZulu-Natal for the past 20 years and has no intention of stopping now. The father of four, three daughters and one son, who bore him five grandchildren, looks forward to growing in his next chapter. He is not about to rest as he will be involved in teaching and consulting.
Midgley turned 65 on Tuesday, 29 March, and Thursday, 31 March 2022, marked his last day of waking up at 4 a.m. to put on his EMS uniform.
“I’ve been proud to do this.”
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