Fire fighting and fire safety were the focus of a major conference in the Battlefords on the weekend.
It was the annual conference and trade show for the Saskatchewan Association of Fire Chiefs. The conference officially opened Thursday and continued through closing ceremonies Saturday night.
The event was co-hosted by the fire departments of the City of North Battleford and the Town of Battleford. The conference attracted fire chiefs from across Saskatchewan as well as from Manitoba and Alberta.
Most of the activity was centred on the Dekker Centre, where the main keynote addresses took place over two days. The NationsWEST Field House hosted the trade show Thursday night and Gold Eagle Casino Events Centre hosted the closing formal banquet.
Battleford’s fire department hosted the social night Friday, which included a “meet and shoot” event at Battle River Archers in Battleford, where the fire chiefs were able to try their hand at archery.
But the fun simply served as a short break from the serious business of the conference, which had the well-being of firefighters in the field as its focus.
The theme of this year’s conference was Challenge of Fire Fighter Health and Safety in a Changing Environment. Speakers at the conference focused on safety concerns throughout the main sessions on Friday and Saturday.
Fire Chief Mike Vilneff of Cobourg, Ont., led off the sessions with a presentation titled Taking the Blinders off Fire Fighter Health and Safety. Topics in the afternoon Friday included operational guidelines and provincial fire commissioner Duane McKay spoke about the new Fire Safety Act that had been brought in by the province in 2015.
There was a similar focus in the Saturday sessions, which included a session on preventing injuries and death due to truss system failures, as well as a closing keynote session focusing on post-traumatic stress disorder – an issue of great importance to all emergency personnel in the field.
“The educational component is going to be very significant,” said North Battleford Fire Chief Albert Headrick, who alongside Battleford Fire Chief Larry Gabruch welcomed the delegates during opening ceremonies Thursday.
Other dignitaries on hand for the opening included North Battleford mayor Ian Hamilton, Battleford mayor Derek Mahon and Battlefords MLA Herb Cox.
The timing of this year’s conference was notable. It comes just after last year’s summer of wildfires in northern Saskatchewan.
It was the largest disaster response in the province’s history. Fire departments from throughout Saskatchewan joined the effort to fight the wildfires in north. North Battleford and Battleford sent a joint response to La Ronge to fight the fires there.
During the opening ceremonies, McKay, who had been heavily involved in that fight with the province, paid tribute to the fire departments that had sent firefighters and equipment.
“I don’t know if I can explain in the level I wished I could, the pride that I felt when the province was down. We had nothing left to offer,” said McKay, in explaining the call that went out for assistance from municipal fire departments across the province.
“The response to the emails and phone calls was overwhelming,” said McKay.
Thirty departments actually took part in the firefighting efforts, but McKay pointed out more than 60 had offered help.
McKay recognized Ron Pratt, La Ronge fire chief, in the audience for his efforts during the height of the fire that impacted that northern community.
“Never before have I felt so proud about this industry. That gives us an opportunity to move forward and develop more things,” said McKay.
