Jake Kennedy
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 16/02) - A roomful of people gathered at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre last week to honour the efforts of four firefighters from communities across the NWT.

Vince Steen, minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, thanked the firefighters for their work in keeping communities safe.

"Firefighters work hard, and come from every sector of society," Steen said, adding that the awards were the first recognizing firefighters in the NWT.

Winners were chosen in each of four regions: the South Slave, Inuvik, Deh Cho and North Slave.

Yellowknife winner

Blair "Chucker" Dewar, of the Yellowknife fire department, was winner in the North Slave.

He said his love of being a firefighter comes from "not knowing what to expect next."

Dewar was chosen for his work installing addresses on all cabins and homes along the Ingraham Trail.

The winner for the South Slave region, William Reimer, was lauded for his work developing the Fort Smith volunteer fire department.

Reimer was also chosen as the territorial award-winner for his work in Fort Smith, where he has recruited and trained many firefighters.

Russell Andre, fire chief of the Tsiigehtchic fire department, was recognized for his work in rallying support for the fire department throughout the community.

And Kelvin McLeod, of Fort Providence, won an award for rejuvenating the fire department in that community, recruiting nine firefighters over the past year. At one point, the department didn't have enough members to fight fires.