By Greg Nikkel
The Weyburn Fire Department will host a Fire School in September that will see between 250 to 350 fire fighters converge on the city to take fire fighting courses, after city council gave their approval, provided there is enough insurance to cover the city’s fire equipment.
Weyburn last hosted a Fire School in 2008, and a request was sent from the Saskatchewan Volunteer Fire Fighters Association for the city to host another one on the weekend of Sept. 15-17.
Fire Chief Simon Almond said this is not only a compliment to the Fire Department here, but to the city, which has proven its capacity and ability to host major provincial events with their accommodations, hospitality, recreation and restaurant facilities.
Almond said his initial thoughts on courses will include fire incident command, hazardous materials, fire ground operations and search-and-rescue.
Participants will pay a tuition fee to attend the school on a cost-recovery basis, so it is not anticipated there will be any cost to the city to host such an event.
The motion to approve hosting the school was made providing that there is enough insurance to cover the use of Fire Department equipment by the visiting fire fighters.
Chief Almond told council if there is a profit from this event, that it could pay for Weyburn fire fighters to attend a Fire School next spring, an item which was originally in the budget but was cut by city council.
“Chief Almond, I think this is a great initiative. It’s great for the city and great for all of our businesses,” said Coun. Jeff Richards, adding that he thinks the insurance issue is a relatively minor one that could easily be dealt with to allow the school to be held here.
A city business, Prairie Pita, was denied both of their requests to the city, but was urged to try different approaches for what they would like to do as a business.
The business, owned by Bikram Sandhu, had proposed to provide a concession in Jubilee Park and River Park through the summer months during sports and community events, and also asked to have two parking spots in front of their downtown location blocked off so they could serve their food outside on the sidewalk during the summer.
In a report to council on the first request, director of Leisure Services Mathew Warren advised that minor sports groups often have their own concessions during sporting events, with proceeds going either to the associations or to a charitable organization, and allowing a business to set up might cut into those concession sales.
On the second request, Police Chief Marlo Pritchard noted that the police feel there could be a safety hazard to the public to block off the area in front of the business, which is located on Third Street downtown, plus it would block both vehicular traffic and pedestrian use of the sidewalk.
Citing these reasons, the two requests were denied. However, council suggested that in the case of the sporting events, Sandhu could approach the minor ball and minor soccer groups to see if they would approve his setting up a concession, and if he had their approval, he could then come back to council with a request to operate there.
As for setting up in front of his business, the suggestion was made to set up some tables and chairs on the sidewalk as some other businesses downtown do, so long as it doesn’t block the use of the sidewalk.
