Enterprise fire dept technically not functional
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Monday, April 20, 2015
ENTERPRISE
The Enterprise Fire Department is down to just five members.
Fire Chief Debra Richards said four or five firefighters are needed to just take out the fire truck, and that is assuming the current members are all available at the same time.
"With five right now, we're kind of pushing it if we got a call," she said.
When asked if the department could even be considered functional with such a low number of members, Richards said, "Technically, no."
The low number of volunteer firefighters was raised at the April 13 meeting of hamlet council. Hermann Minderlein, the hamlet's senior administrative officer, said he had discussed trying to find additional volunteers with Richards.
"With five people there, that's not even a full crew," said Minderlein.
"It's going to make response harder and harder."
Richards said the numbers are decreasing because some volunteer firefighters are leaving Enterprise for the south.
The five remaining firefighters, including Richards, make the lowest number in the year she has been chief.
"At one point, we were 10, so if I could get the numbers up to anywhere from seven to 10 again, I'd be happy with that," she said.
The fire chief said the department - with its low numbers and its low level of training - can only do so much, perhaps put water on a fire or block the highway in case of a vehicle accident.
"We'll try and do what we can with the numbers that we have, anyways," she said.
The current situation will make Enterprise even more dependent on fire
protection from Hay River, which is 38 km away.
"No matter what, if I did get any kind of call, my first thing would be to call Hay River before I even responded, because you never know exactly what the situation could be," said Richards.
"If we don't have the proper training like we should, I wouldn't want to take that chance and wait 'til I got to the scene and find out that I should have needed somebody there 10 minutes ago."
The fire chief said department members will meet soon to figure out a way to get word out in the community of the need for more volunteers.
"I also have some good connections with other fire departments and probably can find some ideas from them," she said.
If a new member or two can be found in the next couple of months, Richards hopes to set up some basic firefighter training for all members.
