It's the end of an era for the Swift Current Fire Department today, with Chief Denis Pilon working his last shift before walking out of the doors for retirement at 4:30 p.m.

Captain Rick Anderson's been on the force for over 20 years, and said they'll miss Pilon - who's been with them 10 years, and been the fire chief for the past eight, during his 35-year career.

"Chief Pilon's been an awesome member of the department. He's a great leader. It's been an honour to have him here with the Swift Current Fire Department," he said. "He'll obviously be very well missed by the whole department. He's a great person for us, and gets the ship running nice on a straight line."

There's a come-and-go function at the Legion from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. tonight for Pilon, who said the final stretch has been a great way to wrap up his time fighting fires.

"This has been probably the most fantastic end to a career that anybody could have in my opinion," he said. "It's been just fantastic - City council, City administration have supported us 100 per cent. We've made a lot of changes here; turned a lot of things around with the support of them. But the firefighters have been great to work with; they've been totally supportive - just fantastic to work with. I'm going to miss the people big time; I'm not going to miss getting up in the morning. I've been telling people I've got mixed emotions because I'm happy because I don't have to come to work tomorrow, but I am sad because I don't have to come to work tomorrow."

Darren McClelland is going from deputy fire chief to fire chief, and boasted about Pilon's hands-off approach.

For Pilon, having a staff that he could just let do their thing was huge.

"I'm the kind of manager that I've sat back and said, you know, do your job, and you don't have to come to me for permission to do stuff all the time. Just do it and do it right. And that has really helped them grow in their positions and I've enjoyed watching them do their work. Surprising how much they will do without coming to ask you for permission on every little thing... I've got enough to do with my own work - I don't need to be doing theirs."

Pilon is moving to Regina to be near family, but had nothing but good things to say about Swift Current.

"It's just been fantastic. The city of Swift Current is a great place to live. The only reason I'm leaving is basically to be near my family, and that's where I want to be."