On Sept. 30, Friends of the Firemen as well as HD Central's Kim Stephen and Hank Dyck gathered during the Fire Department's regularly scheduled practice for a couple of special presentations
The presentations revolved around the recent Las Vegas fundraiser and fittingly, the first presentation was to Pam and Robert Stoupe, who were the lucky local winners of this trip. Stephen and Dyck made the presentation while the Friends of the Firemen and the Firemen themselves looked on.
Secondly, the two presented, the chairperson of the Friends, Bev Erickson with a cheque in the amount of $3,900. Selling tickets on the Las Vegas Draw raised this money. In total, $5,200 was raised in the draw and when the 'smoke had cleared' and everything had been paid for, $3,900 was the remainder.
The Stoupe's trip includes return bus fare to Winnipeg from Snow Lake. Two Winnipeg hotel rooms at the Greenwood Inn (one night on the way to Vegas the other on return). The return air fare to Vegas from Winnipeg and a week's accommodation at Hank and Kim's timeshare while in the desert. Greyhound donated the bus tickets. Victory Nickel donated the hotel rooms. The cost of the timeshare ($2,500) was donated by Stephen and Dyck.
The Stoupes advise that they will leave on their holiday on Dec. 6; however, as Robert is a new hire and short on leave, they will have to come home a few days early.
Friends of the Firemen advise that this fundraiser, as well as a 'wine and cheese' affair they have planned for late October will be the final events they will put on in raising money for a new fire truck. At present, the total raised to purchase the truck is approaching the magic number.
During this presentation, I also had the occasion to speak to Fire Chief Anaka about the state of the department's forces in light of many of them having to travel to and from Flin Flon for work.
Chief Anaka says that he has 13 firefighters on the squad at present. However, when asked what a full complement was, Anaka stated, "I don't know, I've never seen a full complement! But ideally, I know the guys have said that they would like to see at least 20."
The chief says that the department is actively recruiting all of the time and then by way of proving it, he follows up that statement by asking the questioner if he wants to join. Even though his invitation was politely declined, Anaka admits that they won't stop trying to get new blood out to practices and into turnout gear.
He states that 80 per cent of his current complement works in Flin Flon. "Actually three of the members are always in Snow Lake and the rest travel to work," he said. Most of these members work a four-day 'on' four day 'off' rotation. Notwithstanding staffing problems, the chief advises that there are commonly six people available at any one time to respond to calls. "Everyone has their own pager and when a call goes out, whoever is in town responds," he explained. "Our last callout, we had three guys, myself and two other fellows."
When asked, if under conditions like this it was pretty tough to keep guys trained, "It's just pretty tough to keep guys period," Anaka replied. "But we do pretty well all of our training here, then once a year, we will have courses come up elsewhere, or the Fire Commissioner will bring courses in (which is rare). Then once a year in Brandon, there is the Emergency Service Conference and we all (whoever attends) get in on courses there."
Chief Anaka was asked what his alternatives would be if faced with a major fire or a severe emergency. "The town crew is willing to back us up," he replied "And from experience I know that there are former firemen out there who will back us up. Say for instance the school fire; while we were inside searching the building, the former chief, Dave Roberts, was outside prepping the pump for us. So when we came back out, he already had it all set up and ready to go. Stuff like that is really nice to see." Anaka says that he also has a list of ex-firefighters as well. And there are about six people on it who have said they are willing to come if needed.
In relation to money for the new truck, the chief says that they are pretty close with that funding. "We are going to get together and write up a letter and do a presentation and recommendation to the town council," he said. "They are looking at around $285,000. HudBay hasn't donated anything, but says if the committee has exhausted all other avenues, they may look at contributing"
