Bob Beane can’t seem to put his past job behind him.

He often reminisces about it when chatting with old friends or former colleagues, at times stopping to jot down on a slip of paper additional details associated with those memories.

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Bob Beane spent 22 years a a Portland firefighter and more time with the state Fire Marshal's Office before retiring. Courtesy photo

It’s not that Beane’s memories ever fade or that the stories have lost their impact. He simply wants to ensure that the facts supporting his recollections are accurately recorded for posterity.

Beane, 67, is writing his memoirs as a retired member of the Portland Fire Department.

“I’ve been doing a lot of research to gather information on the specifics of different fire scenes,” said Beane. “I have a lot of memories of the fires themselves but I want to fill in the background details – like the date, what the weather was like at the scene or the time of day – those things all help to tell the scene for the story.”

So, what’s in a date?

Consider Jan. 29, 1989 when Beane, then 46, suffered a heart attack while working at a Portland fire station, ending his 22-year tenure as lead driver for Engine 1, Munjoy Hill – a job he felt born to do.

Beane was forced to make adjustments, including taking a job with the state Fire Marshal’s Office. Rather than fighting fires, he was working on a statewide level to prevent them. But the work just wasn’t the same.

“I missed (firefighting) terribly – that adrenaline rush you get when the alarm sounds, you slide down the pole and jump onto a fire truck – not knowing what you’re going to face at the scene of a call,” said Beane.

“That feeling can be addicting. But it also predisposes firefighters to (adverse) physical conditions like heart attacks and cancer.”

Beane has suffered both.

It was Beane’s 2008 diagnosis with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that set him on a course to write the book.

He endured the cancer treatments and became a cancer survivor conference speaker who shares his life experiences as a tool to help others transition through their own pain and uncertainty.

Seeing the value of sharing his story with others served as a catalyst for writing the book. He was further prompted by attending the funerals of former co-workers whose tales will never be told.

“An old friend once told me, ‘Bob, you’re not getting any younger, and when you leave this earth you’ll take those memories with you if you don’t write them down,’ ” said Beane.

To date, he has written 60 pages of a planned 250-page book. Beane’s New Year’s resolution for 2011 is to complete the work for submission to a publisher by year’s end.

The stories will capture the highs and lows of the firefighting profession, including his first successful rescue, which came during his second week on the job.

“I was a rookie and had gone in to check a burning building,” said Beane. “When I entered, there was a fire to my right. So I turned to my left and there was an elderly man just standing there looking very confused. I just grabbed his hand and led him out to safety.”

When it comes to making the best of a bad situation, Beane falls back on the survival skills he once used to navigate through burning buildings: When your path seems impassable, take another route you may not have considered before.

At each speaking engagement, Beane pauses to ask his audience to consider the benefits they have received in life since being diagnosed with cancer.

“I know my life has changed for the better since my diagnosis,” said Beane. “I’m a deeply spiritual man. I take better care of myself and I pay attention to the little signposts along life’s highway. And, lately, those signposts are all saying the same thing: ‘Get this (writing project) done!’ And that’s just what I’m going to do.”

Staff Writer Deborah Sayer can be contacted at 791-6308 or at: dsayer@pressherald.com

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