Whitecourt Fire Department receives fire training donation

By Laura Bohnert

The Town of Whitecourt has received a generous donation from Scott Safety Ltd.—one that will expand current training facilities at the Whitecourt Fire Department and offer benefits to Whitecourt and surrounding areas as a whole.

“Scott Safety is in the process of moving locations,” explains Jay Granley, Director of Community Safety for the Town of Whitecourt. “As a result, they are changing their scope and focus, and that left them with training apparatus they are not going to use anymore. They know the Town has fire training grounds, so they made a donation.”

Scott Safety Ltd. is currently in the process of moving their offices and training facility from their Caxton Street location to 42 Avenue, and their move strategy involves placing less emphasis on large scale industrial training. Left, as a result, with two surplus fire training structures, Scott Safety has made the generous decision to donate the structures to the Whitecourt Fire Department’s current Fire Training Grounds, located at the Town Infrastructure Services Yard.

There are two donated structures. The first is a high angle tower, which is used for training with rope courses and suspensions and slings, as well as when training for above ground recues,” Granley explains. “The second item is an enclosed spaces training structure, which is an enclosed tank with openings at the top and near the bottom. It is used for training within enclosed spaces and features different options of opening and closing different compartments. It is largely used for fire and rescue training.”

“The two biggest benefits with the addition of these structures is that we can now do these specialized training exercises in house or on site—without having to send our fire fighters away for training,” Granley adds.

The Whitecourt Fire Department has three full-time officers and a compliment of just over 40 volunteer firefighters, all of whom now have local access to these specialized training structures.

“An even bigger benefit,” Granley notes, “is that now, with the addition of these structures, our firefighters can do regular training, and that means they can really reinforce what they learn. Before, they would take a course over a few years and practice, but they can now train on a regular basis, and that is a definite advantage.”

With such clear benefits, the Town and Fire Department are eager to get the new facilities up and running: “We have to move the structures off the Scott Safety sight in the near future, and we will work at getting set up and making a plan during the fall and over the winter, so the equipment likely won’t be operational until spring of 2018,” Granley explains.

The cost to the Town of getting the equipment ready for use, he adds, is minimal. “With all our various contacts among our volunteer firefighters, we will be able to get the structures moved to training grounds efficiently. The biggest expense will be the high angle tower. We’ll need to see what kind of base we need to set up, and it will need a final inspection to make sure it’s safe and everyone is happy with it once it is set up. There will be some expense,” he adds, “but it won’t be a huge amount.”

The existing training grounds budget and the planned 2018 budget amounts will be used to accommodate expenses as final setup is completed.

“This donation is of huge benefit and offers significant cost savings for us in the long run,” Granley points out.

The financial value of the proposed equipment is estimated at $75,000, but the true value of the training structures isn’t one you could put a price tag on.

“Our volunteer firefighters make a huge commitment to Whitecourt, so anything we can do to make training easier and more accessible to them presents a significant benefit to the whole community,” Granley stresses. “As the community grows, we have seen an increased volume and variety of calls, so the fact that we will now be able to provide extra training to meet the variety of needs that arise in those situations is extremely beneficial.”

And of course, the Town would have access to none of these benefits without Scott Safety: “The Town Council really emphasized how great it is to have good corporate participation in the community and would like, once again, to acknowledge the generosity of Scott Safety and their commitment to the community.”

For more information about The Whitecourt Fire Department or their new training facilities, contact Fire Chief Brian Wynn at 780-778-2342 or at brianwynn@whitecourt.ca.