The next time you catch yourself making a snide remark about North Battleford's fire chief or one of his deputies using a department vehicle to drive to the store for a litre of milk, think about what could have happened Wednesday to homes in the Killdeer neighbourhood.
It is no secret our prairie world is tinder dry these days, and a cold front moving in has long absent winds picking up velocity.
That combination of conditions created a perfect recipe for disaster when a huge grass fire licked up to the edges of the city subdivision. The situation called for evacuation of some homes, but a quick, concerted and smoothly orchestrated response by North Battleford Fire and Emergency Services, assisted by the RCMP, averted disaster.
Vehicles lined the streets outside the fire hall that afternoon, a testament to the volunteer corps quick and wholehearted response to the call for assistance from the on-duty firefighters. Also called to the scene were highly trained volunteers from the Town of Battleford and the RM of Battle River, who dropped whatever they were doing to come to the city squad's assistance.
Through their combined efforts untold destruction of private property was averted, not to mention the lives that would have been in danger if the fire had not been contained.
Firefighters do have downtime, no one can dispute that. Wednesday's response, however, proves that downtime is put to good use. The smooth, successful response to the fire itself, traffic control and evacuation notices, paints the picture of well-oiled machine, ready to come to the aid of citizens.
That's what firefighters do. That is their entire job description. If they are driving a department vehicle for personal errands, it is because they are on call to the public and need to be in or near their vehicle when that call comes in.
If you were in need of help, you wouldn't want the response time put in jeopardy.
Randie J. Wasson-Woytiuk would agree. Wasson-Woytiuk posted this comment at www.newsoptimist.ca: "Job well done, North Battleford Fire Department. Quick and effective."
And this comment, accompanied by several dramatic photos, came via e-mail: "We would like to thank all the emergency people yesterday for their quick response to the fire near Killdeer Park. If it wasn't for their actions our homes would have been destroyed. These pictures were taken by Dan Dunn before the evacuation notice." Dan and Jean M. Dunn (the photos can be found at www.newsoptimist.ca. Look for photo galleries under the community tab.)
These public servants deserve our respect and our thanks.
