Fort Providence fire department boosts number of volunteer firefighters
The Fort Providence fire department is one step closer to returning to a defensive level of service where it can respond to and put out fires.
The department was reduced to a basic, or preventative, level of service last month. The hamlet council made the decision after an assessment by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs determined there weren't enough trained volunteers to safely respond to fires.
Now there are 14 volunteers from the community who have committed to take the necessary training to respond to fires.
Acting fire chief Jason Collard said the response from the community has been "overwhelmingly positive" and that it's helped build a sense of community pride.
"The community's come together," he said. "It was in a challenging situation but ... the community's really rallied around and come together to help get this back to where it needs to go."
Collard said there are two levels of firefighter training required for defensive level firefighting — training which is offered through the N.W.T. government. The first has been scheduled for late May and Collard said he anticipates the fire department will return to defensive service by mid to late June.
Collard also said the fire department is working on putting reporting and oversight processes in place as part of an action plan that was developed with the territorial government.
"We're not there at the finish line yet, but there's been some positives so far and we're going to continue to build on that," he said.
Budget to compensate volunteers
The hamlet has also worked on a budget to compensate volunteers for going to training sessions — including the territorial government's recommended twice-monthly training — as well as for when they're on call. Collard said he's found this is standard best practice for volunteer fire departments.
Mayor Samuel Gargan said the funding comes from the hamlet.
Gargan said that while the territorial government has responded to a critical auditor general's report by assessing many community fire departments, he would like to see the territorial government allocate funding for communities to upgrade their fire departments so they can safely respond to fires.
