Farm Credit Canada staff toured the Buckland Fire Hall during the cheque presentation. Photo by Chelsea Laskowski
A volunteer fire hall that responds to First Nations emergencies is putting a $5,000 grant from Farm Credit Canada towards new equipment that will reduce their response time.
Buckland Fire and Rescue’s Fire Chief Jim Miller says they struggle to get their current response vehicles to a crisis quickly, especially when the terrain is rough.
The rapid response vehicle they have their eyes on, to get them to emergencies quickly, is a four-wheel drive unit. It will be able to haul more equipment than their ATVs and move quicker than their larger water-hauling fire trucks, but still have the benefits of each.
The new vehicle will cost less than $200,000, Miller says, which means they have a lot more fundraising to do.
Miller says they respond to a number of First Nations in the area.
“Sturgeon Lake, that is our highway extrication where we do rescue, accidents scenes, and different types of those things. Which is the majority of our calls, actually,” he said.
Members of Buckland’s 35-volunteer crew have been out to Wahpeton, Sturgeon Lake, and Little Red reserve for fires and car accidents this year. They also helped out in the Turnor Lake search and rescue earlier this year.
The donation from FCC comes from its AgriSpirit fund, which allocated $1 million in 2015 towards 74 community groups across Canada. Due to the agriculture focus of FCC, its fund gravitates towards rural capital projects.