If you are a frequent reader of my column, you know that I seldom will dedicate my entire space to one subject area; but that’s what I’m doing this week in the wake of two serious incidents in our community that involved Yorkton firefighters.
First of all, some people are aware that the union was successful in getting raises of six per cent in each year of a three year contract. This is a major thorn in the side to many who are focused on money spent and overlook other issues (which I will get into later). While you can count me in as one of the people concerned with how the city can continue to absorb these costs, you can count me out as someone who feels a volunteer department would be suitable. In fact, my concern is with municipal governments, as a whole, and how they are going to manage rising costs everywhere without sending its citizens to the poorhouse paying exorbitant taxes. You can argue numbers all day long, but a good guess is that fire and police make up 25 per cent of the city budget and fire accounts for 10 per cent by itself.
Two weeks ago, Yorkton firefighters were successful in saving lives at the old hospital. No, let me rephrase that. They were successful in saving all lives and, to my knowledge, there weren’t even any injuries. Sorry there is no influential video, but this was as much a rescue situation as you will get. Most of us have seen the pictures. If that’s your emergency, are you okay with volunteers coming to your rescue? Yes, paying for professionals is expensive, but is there a finite price on human life? Furthermore, the wage earned by Yorkton firefighters is not out of line with other comparable cities in similar geographical locations. Also, consider that what these people do is not limited to structure fires. The rescue aspect of their job has become more and more important throughout the course of time. In fact, it wasn’t that long ago that Yorkton Fire dealt with a little more than 200 calls a year. I can tell you that number is up over 400 now. The city has grown and is busier than it used to be. If we want to be taken seriously, we need pros when it comes to emergency personnel. If you think this job is easy, maybe you should quit what you are doing and go to fire college. It’s not for me. I’m glad someone else does it.
Another thing that concerns me is the apparent spin on news when it comes to firefighters. When I moved here in 2001, there was (surprise, surprise) a contract dispute between the union and city. I was stunned to learn within the radio news room that there was slanted support for the city. I have no idea why that was the case and I don’t work there anymore to know if it still is. But, I do find it odd that by making one phone call, I (a retired, washed up media guy who writes a voluntary weekly column) was able to learn the Yorkton Firefighters are extremely thankful and would actually love for it to be known how appreciative they are for the help they get when it comes to situations like the apartment fire. For instance, it was quickly mentioned to me how thankful they were to McDonald’s for delivering burgers and hot drinks in the middle of a cold night. Tim Horton’s sent breakfast sandwiches and coffee early in the morning. Dealing with cold temperatures, City Works had the courtesy to deliver a warm up shack and also brought sand, traffic barricades, and a track hoe. An added point to that was Wyonzek Construction added a bigger track hoe when it became evident one was needed. Derek Boehm, from Yorkton Coop Agro Centre, made a fuel delivery after 3:30am. These are the types of things that don’t get mentioned and it’s easy for the public to assume the firefighters pay no mind to this stuff. I assure you they do, and I guarantee you it’s something they wish was conveyed on a more regular basis. The level of cooperation from the area’s support groups is second to none.
I’m quickly running out of space, but it was also brought up that they wish to say thanks to the person who jumped out of his truck on York Road last week to flag traffic in the wake of the train derailment. That was a major help because (and this is unbelievable to me) people were not pulling over to the right and stopping to give way to the emergency vehicles. Folks, if you are unaware, when you see the flashing lights coming, you are supposed to get out of the way by coming to a complete stop on the right hand shoulder of the road. Again, there were thousands affected by that train derailment. Do you want volunteers navigating our streets to get to an accident, especially when most of us aren’t making it easy for them to get to the scene? Who do you want operating the Jaws Of Life to get you out of your vehicle when precious seconds could mean the difference between a tragedy or a rescue? I’ll take the pros ten times out of ten.
So, thank you to the Yorkton Firefighters for doing their job and doing it well.
