Earlier this month the Kindersley Fire Department kept up with its annual tradition since before 1954—the Firemen’s Banquet.
On February 4th, the Kindersley and Kerrobert fire departments, the Traumatic Events Response Team, and the Town’s Mayor Rod Perkins & CAO Bernie Morton joined several invitees for a sumptuous meal and heartfelt evening in recognition of the dedication and service of our area’s volunteer firefighters.
Mayor Perkins, Staff Sargent Blais of the RCMP, and a member of the Kindersley EMS team all thanked the local departments for their dedication and commitment to the communities and people of the Kindersley areas. The RCMP and EMS representatives also noted how the cooperation and support of the fire crews made a huge impact for each emergency.
Lieutenants Jeremy Otto and Cody Welker then presented awards to several members of Kindersley Fire that reached a milestone in their career:
Byron Ismond 5 Years Myles Perrin 20 years
Mitch Hope 10 years Wayne Beilie 20 years
The recipients were presented with years of service pins from the staff of Kindersley Fire and a gift from the Town of Kindersley and RM 290 Kindersley in recognition of their dedicated service.
“I have loved my time in the fire service, and I look forward to making it 20+ years;” said Captain Mitch Hope in a recent interview. “It’s a great way to give back and help out, honestly though my favourite thing is still going into the schools and teaching fire safety to the kids—fire prevention. I was once told that the modern day firefighter fights fires through education.”
Fire Chief Ron Hope, along with Mayor Perkins and CAO Morton, then had the pleasure of making a presentation on behalf of the Governor General of Canada, the honourable Julie Payette. Deputy Chief Rod Stevens was presented with his Canadian Fire Service Exemplary Service First Bar for having served for more than 30 years.
Fire Chief Ron Hope gave an overview of the calls the Kindersley Fire crew responded to in 2017. Apart from the crew’s medical assist calls, carbon monoxide alarm attendance, rescue and other calls, Kindersley’s department responded to 44 multi-vehicle collisions (MVC), 11 structure fires, and 46 false alarms for around 150 calls that year. Chief Hope also recognized the outstanding assistance of the Kerrobert Fire department throughout the year, a statement which sparked a standing ovation from the crowded room.
On average, Kindersley’s hard-working fire crew responded to a call every 2.5 days. Part of this average includes several exhausting days of multiple calls within hours of each other, such as the memorable week of October 17, and a day in November when the crew received 4 calls within 7 hours. November was a particularly busy month, as 28 of their calls were received in that month.
It is not only the sleepless nights and hectic days that make it challenging to be a fire volunteer. According to Captain Hope, being a fire volunteer isn’t as simple as merely volunteering. “With building construction and vehicle constructions continually changing its important to learn all these new methods and understand the danger that come with them.”
Captain Hope went on to explain how the fire resistance of floor joists, or the different places of airbags or gas tubes in vehicles can quite easily mean the difference of life or death/injury of first responders and the people that they aid. Captain Hope says that many of the fire crew in Kindersley are actively pursuing training and education in order to do their fire work more effectively.
With such high stakes and exacting work, it is easy to see how imperative it is for a crew to pull together and for each volunteer to give 110% during their service to the community. Fire Chief Ron Hope is a leading example in this area. As Fire Chief of the Kindersley department, Chief Hope has spent countless personal hours to help lead and build the Kindersley Fire Department to what it is today. As a heartfelt ‘thank you’ for Chief Hope’s dedicated service, the members of the Kindersley fire department pooled together to gift a one-of-a-kind helmet to their chief.
Air-brushed by Brian Kirkness, the custom-made helmet depicts two murals. One mural is of Chief Hope during the 2010 Exhibition Stadium Fire and the second is of the Chief during the 2017 TKC Fire. The leather front was custom made by a firefighter from California and the front lens is engraved with the name, rank and number of all current serving members. The helmet is then mounted on a gleaming axe and cross stand. This stunning gift honored Chief Hope’s tireless efforts and unaccounted for hours. Captain Hope says that too many of these hours go un-thanked.
As a community, we should never lose an opportunity to thank our local fire department. Today they are someone else’s heroes, tomorrow they might be yours.
Feature Image Source: Kindersley Fire Facebook
For the latest information and for more updates on everything Kindersley ‘Like’ the Kindersley Social Facebook page below…
