Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services

Dettah (July 26/02) - Dettah residents can now rest comfortably as four trained firefighters living right in the community are prepared to battle blazes.

Although the Dettah fire brigade doesn't yet have a fire truck, they do have a water tank and the specialized training to respond to an emergency.

Volunteer firefighters Julia Lynne, Charles Tsetta and James Sangris, along with deputy fire Chief Curtis Coleman completed the GNWT's firefighter training course at the Yellowknife fire department last week.

"It was their first step as a fire department," said Steve Moss, training co-ordinator and fire service advisor for the North Slave region.

The five-day training session was designed by the government to teach volunteer firefighters to respond to emergencies in their own communities.

Moss said the community of Dettah has had firefighting equipment in place for about 10 years. Now the government has finally had the opportunity to formally train the volunteers.

First stage completed

"It's hard, when you're starting off to get the group together in such a way that you can take the first step ... now we have the first stage done and things should be a little easier to move forward from now on," he said.

Not only will the Dettah fire crew have a faster response time for fire situations in the community, it will also increase the manpower and alleviate some of the workload of firefighters in Yellowknife.

"Where we can, we always will respond but ... we would be a mutual aid response whenever they need us rather than every time there is a fire they call us," said Moss.

Dettah's newly christened volunteer firefighters are ecstatic about their successful training sessions. Deputy fire Chief Curtis Coleman said he has always been interested in firefighting for his community.

Rewards of training

"It was quite intensive," he said, speaking about the training process. But it was worth it, he adds.

"I've been trying to get the fire department up and running for a number of years now," he said.

The big reward for the community, said Coleman, is knowing that any fire or emergency can now be addressed almost immediately, rather than having to wait half an hour for firefighters from Yellowknife to respond.

"At least we can have some sort of defence over here, just in case something comes up," he said.

A new fire truck for the Dettah fire department has been purchased by the government. The vehicle is expected to arrive in September.

Two other volunteer firefighters are still in training.

Lawrence and David Drygeese could not complete the program last week but will complete the program at a later date.