Boosting rapid response for Ontario fire departments

Volunteer firefighters use Enbridge grants to improve their rapid intervention capabilities

While racing through the farmlands near Watford, Ont., in recent years, a freight train heading cross-country ran clear off its track. At final count, 21 cars derailed in fields of corn and beans, and the friction of the train screeching to a halt caused small brush fires that spread over a quarter-mile.

Back at the Watford, Ont., Fire Department, Jim Hart was eager to deploy his crew – but because of the remote location of the derailment, he needed to take an extra, time-consuming step. Being a small, rural fire hall, the Watford Fire Department didn’t own any specialty vehicles that could get his volunteer firefighters and their equipment off-road to the scene — or remove injured victims. To access the derailment site, the Watford Fire Department had to borrow a truck from the township.

“We’re running the fire hall with a small budget, which covers maintenance and capital projects. We don’t have the funds to purchase (specialty) equipment,” says Hart, Watford’s Deputy Fire Chief and Emergency Management Co-ordinator.

Starting in November 2014, the keys to the township truck won’t be needed anymore. The Watford Fire Department has received a $7,500 Safe Community grant from Enbridge to purchase its own 2014 Ford four-wheel-drive, extended-cab pickup truck to transport crew and equipment for off-road emergencies.

“Enbridge’s grant will help us respond to off-road fire situations, vehicle accidents, and brush fires,” says Hart, whose organization had previously used a $10,000 Safe Community grant for a telescopic light tower. “We’ll also use the truck for rapid intervention — when we need to send a team of firefighters to rescue other firefighters from an emergency situation.”

Watford isn’t the only rural Ontario fire hall benefiting from a Safe Community grant this month. Twenty minutes north-west of Watford, Warwick Township Fire and Rescue, another small volunteer fire hall, also received a $7,500 grant – its third since the Safe Community program started in Canada in 2009.

Like the Watford Fire Department, Warwick will use Enbridge’s most recent grant to purchase a vehicle to deliver firefighters and equipment to rural accident scenes.

“Both fire departments told us they have a need for improved transportation capability, and we said, ‘Yes — we want to help you meet your needs,’ ” remarks Ken Hall, Enbridge’s Ontario-based Senior Advisor of Public Affairs.

Enbridge’s Safe Community grants are awarded to emergency response organizations that protect and safeguard the communities near Enbridge’s projects and operations. Since Safe Community was established, the program has distributed about $7-million to first responders – including emergency medical services, firefighters, police, and sheriff’s departments – across North America.

Offers Brad Goodhill, Warwick’s Fire Chief: “The Safe Community program is very beneficial to small, rural fire departments. We struggle to come up with the funds to purchase equipment that benefits the whole community. Safe Community is a great asset."