MANITOUWADGE — The Manitouwadge Fire Department is making sure some of its equipment has a second life in a place where it's needed.
In late October, the fire department transported a final piece of donated equipment to South River, a township 60 kilometres south of North Bay. The equipment includes a self-contained breathing apparatus fill station and compressor.
The department had recently updated some of their equipment, acquiring a technically advanced, service friendly, Jordair Fire-Kat 6 breathable air fill station and compressor, necessary for recharging oxygen cylinders used when entering smoke filled environments. It was replaced as was no longer able to meet their needs.
The previously used equipment, which is capable of filling smaller cylinders, was donated to South River for the Laurier Fire Department.
Laurier, with a population of only 189 people, is part of the Northern Fire Protection Program (NFPP), which looks after unorganized municipal areas that would otherwise be lacking fire protection services. They are partially funded by the Ontario government because the municipality cannot provide funding, due to the lack of an adequate tax base. They often rely on donations in order to provide equipment for their firefighters.
During the September 2022 FireCon event in Thunder Bay, Manitouwadge firefighter Ray Gascon met Laurier Fire Chief Tim Hollands, and they discussed the needs of smaller communities. Hollands, an enthusiastic supporter of the NFPP, reached out to Chief Don Kruger in Manitouwadge, who agreed that a donation of the unused equipment was appropriate. The only cost associated with the transaction was a fee to transport the equipment to South River.
“With the closure of the Ontario Fire College (in March 2021), any way that fire chiefs and fire departments can help each other out with cost savings is a bonus for all the interested parties and it creates new partnerships,” Kruger said.