Bruderheim Fire Department Makes Significant Improvements in 2010

Home > Bruderheim Fire Department Makes Significant Improvements in 2010

 

January 2011 

The Bruderheim Fire Department, a dedicated group of part-time personnel, made several exciting changes in 2010 driven by a plan endorsed by Town Council to ensure 24 hour coverage and other critical improvements.   "We're very happy with the progress we've made in such a short time," says Fire Chief Bob Cote.

To start, the Department overcame one of its biggest challenges.  "Our problem was having sufficient day-time coverage to respond to emergency calls while members were at work," Cote says.  "All members have full-time employment outside the Fire Department and many work shift work."

To compensate for this shortage, two Bruderheim Public Works employees were trained and another community member was recruited. The addition of these three people, along with the efforts of existing members, has made a great impact on the Department's ability to effectively respond during day-time hours.

The Department's response time to calls within the Town boundaries was also significantly reduced. Responses are now between 7 and 10 minutes, which is truly exemplary for a volunteer department. This response time includes the time it takes members to arrive at the fire hall from their homes, get their gear on and get to the scene, and is achieved at all hours of the day and night. In total, the Department responded to 83 calls in 2010.

"The Town's number one priority is the protection of people and achieving a quick first response is critical to ensuring that residents, at the very least, are removed from the property and kept safe in the event of a fire," says Tim Duhamel, Bruderheim CAO.   "As a key municipal service, we are very pleased our fire department has responded to this need for our residents." 

In addition to these impressive improvements, the Department also boasts a successful Junior Fire Fighter program, which trains youth in the community as early as age 16. While the junior fire fighters cannot respond to emergency calls, they attend all meetings and participate in practices. At age 18 they can move into the position of regular fire fighter, already fully trained to respond to calls.

"We've had four juniors move up to regular fire fighter position within the last year," says Elaine Milliken, the Town's Deputy Director of Emergency Management. Currently, the Program is training three junior fire fighters for the future. All Department members are trained according to the Canadian Fire Fighters handbook, meeting NFPA 1001 Standards and providing them with the critical knowledge they need to do their job safely and efficiently. 

"Bruderheim residents should be proud of the emergency response team we have," adds Acting Mayor Ben Bilyk, appointed member to the Disaster Services Committee. "They should feel confident that, if called upon, Bruderheim's Fire Department will deliver a rapid and professional response."  These achievements come at a crucial time as Bruderheim awaits the opening of its new fire hall, currently under construction to serve the community and its surrounding area.

 

Read more about this in the news:

 

"Bruderheim fire department copes with shortage of volunteers" as seen in:

The Edmonton Journal (Jan 30, 2011) 

The Vancouver Sun (Jan 30, 2011)

The Leader Post (Jan 30, 2011)