Vaughan firefighter named public hero for giving back to community
Domenic Guaragna battled testicular cancer then used his experience to help educate his fellow firefighters

YorkRegion.com
June 14, 2017
Adam Martin-Robbins

Around the Vaughan fire department, Domenic Guaragna is known as a bit of a prankster.

You know, the type of guy who Photoshop’s a picture of his boss’s head onto Arnold Schwarzenegger’s body then cracks a joke about it to his superior. But he’s also known as a diligent, hardworking and compassionate firefighter.

He earned his reputation for compassion while on the front lines.

Back then Guaragna, now a training officer, was always the first one at a crash scene to climb inside a mangled vehicle to comfort the driver or passenger, if they were trapped and had to be extricated.

It’s something he started doing about 14 years ago, when he was a volunteer firefighter, after a call where things don’t quite go the way they’re supposed to.

A woman was injured after crashing her car into a ditch in Vaughan and had to be brought out on a stretcher.

“As we were carrying her out, the lady was crying on the Stokes basket and nobody said anything to her,” Guaragna, 35, recalled. “We’re paid to help people in their worst moments, and compassion is a big part of that, so that didn’t sit well with me at all. I was steaming inside. I’m not blaming anyone; it’s just the way things went down. And I said, for myself, ‘That will never happen again, ever, as I serve the community.'”

Guaragna’s compassion extends to his time off duty.

His volunteer work includes helping out at the Vaughan Food Bank, feeding homeless youth through a Toronto church program, organizing a fundraiser for the burn unit at Sick Kids’ hospital and teaching guitar lessons to people affected by cancer.

“I’ve always had this strong desire to serve,” said Guaragna, who grew up in Woodbridge and went to Father Bressani Catholic High School. “I can trace (volunteering) back to the Vaughan Food Bank when I was trying to get on the fire department in the early 2000s. I thought I want to give back and it looks really good on the resume. I fell in love with that as well.”

His time helping homeless youth has been particularly eye-opening.

“I always leave humbled,” he said. “It makes me feel grateful for where I’ve landed.”

Guaragna landed at the Vaughan fire department about 15 years ago following a co-op placement at station 7-5 on Weston Road when he was 17.

He spent six years as a volunteer firefighter before getting on the force full-time.

“I’m a self-proclaimed fire geek. I absolutely love the job,” Guaragna said.

After spending nearly a decade doing what he loves, Guaragna was diagnosed with Stage 3 testicular cancer.

He was just 32 at the time.

Guaragna endured four-rounds of chemo therapy followed by surgery to remove a large tumour from his back.

He was off work for nearly two years and, for a time, Guaragna was in a pretty dark place.

One day, he reluctantly agreed to visit Gilda’s Club, a support group in Toronto named after comedian Gilda Radner, who died of cancer in 1989.

“You basically just tell jokes and play silly games. It got me laughing again,” Guaragna said. “It really helped me heal.”

In typical fashion, he was driven to give back to those who helped him.

So, he raised money to buy five guitars for Gilda’s Club then taught guitar lessons there for nearly a year,

After returning to work, Guaragna also used his experience to educate his colleagues about the risks of not taking the proper precautions.

Testicular cancer is one of several forms of the disease the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board has deemed work-related for firefighters with a certain number of years of service.

Guaragna dreaded the idea of becoming the “poster boy” for cancer, but he put that fear aside and toured every local fire hall delivering a presentation showing the stark reality of his battle in hopes it would spur his fellow firefighters to protect themselves.

“The response was outstanding — a lot of silence, a lot of straight faces,” he said. “For some guys the light bulb went off, they might’ve been thinking, ‘Maybe I’ve been a little careless with my air pack or my decontamination procedure and maybe I’ve got to straighten up.'”

In recognition of his efforts, Guaragna was presented with a Public Heroes Award by the Intercultural Dialogue Institute in April.

“He inspires, creates, innovates and motivates every single day because Dom knows every day is a gift,” Deputy Fire Chief Andrew Zvanitajs, the target of the Schwarzenegger prank, said at the awards ceremony.

Fire Chief Larry Bentley echoed that sentiment.

“I think Domenic’s qualities are qualities that are demonstrated by our professional firefighters and embody the public service that he provides,” Bentley said. “He just takes it to the next level. He gives back in a big way, he’s got a great sense of humour (and) he’s got a lot of passion for the work.”