Redvers Fire & Rescue - along with the communities and rural municipalities it serves - recently celebrated the arrival of a fully-outfitted pumper-rescue truck, donated by Regina's Carman Loraas of Loraas Disposal.
“Every year on behalf of the company, Carman gives back to the communities that support his company,” explains Brian Waynert of Loraas, who attended the Friday, April 20 celebration. “He wants to support them back. The community names are chosen by a draw each year and then it's my job to assess what's needed. When I heard Redvers needed a new firetruck, I thought - we might just have a fix for that.”
The new truck has some impressive features.
“This truck allows five or six of us to respond to a motor vehicle accident immediately, instead of having to wait for others to arrive, because it seats six,” says Redvers Fire & Rescue Chief Brad Hutton. “The truck also has a self-contained breathing apparatus, hydraulic rescue equipment - including the jaws of life - a ladder that can reach three storeys, a 500-gallon pumper capacity, axes, air chisels and more.”
“It's a remarkable gift,” says firefighter Brodie McColl. “And it allows six firefighters to attend to a scene with this single unit, which is equipped with everything we'd need to respond to an emergency.”
Because the 24-strong firefighters in Redvers are a volunteer force, they race to the Fire Hall first - from wherever they are - to don their gear and then respond as quickly as possible to whatever emergency awaits them.
“If we're short-staffed, with this unit five or six of us can go to a vehicle accident with one unit that has pretty much everything we need until the others arrive,” says Hutton. “And we cover a big area, so something like this will potentially benefit people from throughout this area. And we also have Mutual Aid agreements with other fire departments, so that makes this an even more significant contribution to our communities.”
Reeve Ron Henderson of Antler R.M. 61 agrees.
“The R.M. strives to give good equipment to our volunteer firefighters. This just adds to what we have and this is a very generous donation to our area.”
“We'd like to say 'Thank you' to Carman Loraas on behalf of Redvers Fire & Rescue and the communities we serve for this much-needed and generous donation,” says Hutton.
“As I said, it allows us to do so much more for the communities we cover and we're really grateful.”
