Usually the Carlyle Fire and Rescue volunteers work in unison, organized and precise, to save lives and fight fires, but on Saturday, June 6, they took these skills to the Carlyle Sports Arena where they held their first annual Lobster Fest Fundraiser.
In a sold out event, 160 people attended to support the local fire department and enjoy a delicious menu, with people already asking to buy a table for next year’s event.
“We work as a well oiled machine and strive to be the best of the best,” Trent Lee, Carlyle Fire and Rescue’s Fire Chief, explained. “We won’t do anything unless we do it professionally.”
The doors opened at 5:30 p.m. with supper served at 6:30, which was then followed by the auction.
Dave Powell of Regina, a Certified Chef de Cuisine, was in charge of cooking the fresh lobster, who is also the father-in-law to Lee.
On the menu were mussels to start, followed by clam chowder and Caesar salad, coleslaw and potato salad were also on the menu with carrot cake for dessert.
The piece de resistance, however, was the fresh lobster which was flown in from Nova Scotia the day before, which was done to perfection by the chef.
After a short demonstration of how to dine on a full lobster, the amassed crowd began on their delicious meal.
Although Lee was unsure how much was raised at the time the paper went to press he did say, “It was definitely successful. I think it would be around $10,000, but I don’t know yet for sure.”
There were approximately 20 silent auction items and four live auction items, which all went over well.
“This is a fantastic community with wonderful businesses that support and help the community grow,” Lee stated.
The fundraiser was held as a way for the Fire Department to raise money for a new training facility, which has been a project that has been looked at for a few years now and is something that Lee sees a need for in the community.
“We have about 20 firefighters right now,” Lee explained. “We were down to 10, but picked up a couple new guys.”
Although it’s good to have new guys on the department this is where training gets tricky for them Lee says.
“Without a facility to train them in it gets difficult,” he explained. “They all need their basic firefighter which is about a 200 hour course. That doesn’t give them leadership training or any specialized training, it’s just the introduction. All the guys need hands on training.”
Lee said that they used to do live burns on old farm houses that people wanted to get rid of, but that they haven’t seen one of those in four or five years. Currently they do as much ground training as possible but without more hands on training for the volunteers to become as knowledgeable as possible it’s difficult.
“We don’t really have an opportunity to practice,” Lee continued. “We have a 50 foot ladder, but no body’s going to let us put it up against their house to train because there will be some damage to the eaves troughs because it hasn’t been trained. We do have them put on the self contained breathing apparatus and get comfortable with wearing a respirator, but without live burns they can’t really be completely ready.”
This issue Lee says isn’t one that is just Carlyle specific either. As the President of the Saskatchewan Association of Fire Chiefs, Lee has attended numerous conferences and information meetings as a representative from Saskatchewan. What became obvious was that the issue of training is one that transcends through the majority of volunteer fire departments.
“This is not only a Carlyle problem, it’s a Saskatchewan problem and a Canadian problem,” Lee stated.
For this reason Lee continued, “There’s potential there to take this and run with it. We don’t need a high class or fancy facility, but we need to make training available to our fire department and we could make it available to the entire province.”
To have a fire school in Carlyle would also benefit the community Lee explained as it would draw in firefighters from across the province to train here. This would bring people into the community to stay at the local hotels and to eat at local restaurants.
As for the facility for the Carlyle volunteers, Lee said, “It can be difficult to get volunteers to give up a weekend, which can make getting all the training they need almost impossible. If we have the facility here we could go there after work every other week for a couple hours and our training would become more efficient and effective, which would bring us up to the recognized standard.”
Lee encourages people to support their local fire departments because, “sadly fire service struggles until something bad happens and people realize it’s an essential service.”
“It’s up to the tax payers to tell their councils what they want. Do people just want basic service, a fire department that shows up and can only spray the house down from the outside and contain the fire, keep it from spreading, or do they want a fire department that can show up and possibly save someone inside, that can do interior/structural, high angle, water rescues, hazardous goods response. It’s up to the tax payer what services they want.”
For Lee, he wants the best for the community: “Me personally, I like doing things as best as they can be done. It does take financial support to do that, but fire services are about protecting people’s lives and property. Without proper training it’s difficult to do.”
Training is something that is ever changing as well. Lee described two situations regarding a 25-year-old house and a new house when fighting fires. The 25-year-old house would take between 45 and 60 minutes to reach its flash point (the lowest temperature which a material can vaporize to form an ignitable mixture in the air). In new homes it’s considerably shorter – taking less than three minutes at to reach the flash point.
“If they’re not trained in what they need to watch for or expect, such as watching smoke conditions, bad things are going to happen, which is why it’s essential to train properly; to experience these conditions in a safe atmosphere,” Lee explained.
With Occupational Health and Safety standards to follow and the importance of keeping his fire fighters safe, Lee finds it important to make sure they are as educated as possible, which is why he has been a huge supporter of fundraising for the department.
“We can’t just get away with the basics, we need people trained properly for any situation,” he said.
Thus, the importance to Lee and the Carlyle Fire Department of acquiring a facility that would allow this kind of training.
