A celebration of Pratt’s career at East Lansing Fire Department was held Thursday morning at Fire Station 1, 1700 Abbot Road, where Pratt was presented with a plaque, a decorative axe emblazoned with the East Lansing Fire Department logo and several other gifts to express the department’s gratitude for his service.

Since the first fatal fire he fought in 1987, in which a 21-year-old died in an over-occupied house, Pratt said he has taken great pains to make sure everyone in the college community stays safe.

“I carried with me a lot of that (emotional) baggage,” Pratt said. “I take the job of fire prevention really seriously. … We don’t want to have that kind of thing happen again.”

As he looked back on his career, Pratt said he was proud the city has not had a fatal fire in almost 13 years. He attributes some of that to luck, but he said he believes there have been significant safety improvements since he started.

East Lansing and Lansing Fire Chief Randall Talifarro said he would greatly miss working with Pratt and always was impressed with his work ethic during his time with the fire department.

“Bob always said, ‘What can I do? How can I help?’” Talifarro said. “He worked until the very end.”

Talifarro said Pratt’s work with students — educating fraternities, co-ops and other large rental houses in the area to make sure students know the best way to stay safe — also has been commendable.

“He made a point of relating to them,” Talifarro said. “He really got them involved.”

East Lansing Interim City Manager George Lahanas said the passion that Pratt put into his work has been inspiring.

“He loved what he did and made a difference,” Lahanas said.

Throughout the years he’s spent as firefighter and as fire marshal, Pratt said the job of firefighting has changed because of technology and training available. He said ambulance runs and firefighting still is the majority of what the department does, but firefighters are now trained in responses to issues such as water rescue, confined space rescue and other emergency scenarios.

“It’s a lot more technical — there’s a lot more training that goes into it,” Pratt said. “The day-to-day stuff runs about the same, but our job description has broadened out quite a bit.”

Although Pratt is saying goodbye to the department he’s served for about 25 years, he doesn’t plan on turning away from danger prevention in the future.

Pratt said he and a few others plan on moving forward with a nonprofit organization called Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, a program that promotes water safety, drowning education, rescue and education.

“That’s going to be the next phase of my life,” Pratt said. “I’ll be educating people about dangers and teaching people how to be safer … just in a different mode.”