At 53, Andre Morel, the Fire and Rescue Services Agency’s chief fire officer, has all of these traits and more.

He showed his leadership skills during the recent series of fire disasters in the country and proved that his men in uniform are capable.

I met him on the eve of his birthday, as usual well groomed in his dark blue uniform at the agency’s headquarters on Latanier Road eager to share some of his life stories with me.

Born on May 6, 1958 at Anse Royale Hospital under the sign of Taurus, Mr Morel is the baby of a family of twelve. 
He is married to Margaret Morel and has a daughter.

“I grew up and went to school in the Baie Lazare district and later went on to the Good Shepherd school at Hermitage, Mont Fleuri where the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation television station is today.”

During that time both my parents were working on Felicité, a small island near La Digue.”

He still recalls his friends from Baie Lazare accompanying him on his trips and how they looked forward to go there during the school holidays to have some fun.

On Mahe he was living with relatives and sometimes with family friends.

“After leaving Form 2, I went to the Technical school at Mont Fleuri for a two-year course in masonry,” he said smiling as memories of these days came back to him.

When he finally left school, he worked for some time as an apprentice carpenter with a man. But it did not take him long to figure out that this was not really what he wanted to do.

“My sister was working at the police headquarters, and she informed me about a new fire services which was going to be introduced there. She wanted to know if I was interested.”

”At that point carpentry and masonry no longer fascinated me; I was still young, only 17, and was immediately attracted by the idea of this new job,” he said.

On February 19, 1976 he joined the police force as a fireman.

There were only 12 of them and a British adviser by the name of Mr Henlon was their supervisor.

“We were based at the police station headquarters in Victoria but not for long. At the end of 1976, the fire services moved to the old pier where the Indian Ocean Tuna company is now situated.

Mr Morel noted that when they were at the Long Pier they had limited resources. Their fire engines were stationed in copra shed there.

It was in 1982 that they moved to the actual site on Latanier Road. Mr Henlon left the following year and a Seychellois, Pascal Payet, took over.

From his position as a fireman, Mr Morel was promoted to sergeant in 1977, and there after took charge of a shift working on a 24hr basis.

From there, he moved up the ranks gradually and attended training in the UK, France and Singapore to gain more experience in the field.

In 2007 he took charge of the Seychelles Fire Brigade which was then separated from the Seychelles Police. He was appointed as chief fire officer in January this year when the organisation was renamed the Seychelles Fire and Rescue Services Agency.

Mr Morel is now in charge of 118 staff and noted with pride that during his 35 years of service none of his colleagues and staff have been badly injured on duty.

However, he has attended to some big fires such as the one that destroyed the Krishna Mart supermarket at English River.

The recent increase in fire incidents has not only made him and his firemen more busy than usual but has also been a very alarming concern for the country.

More eager to share his work with me, Mr Morel did not say much about what he does at home.

All I could get from him is the fact that he does some carpentry and masonry at home to put into practice the skills he acquired during his days at technical school.

Most of the time he is on call even when he is with his family, but after all these years in the profession he still loves the job despite its risks and challenges.