LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - The Fort Simpson Volunteer Fire Department is one of three emergency responder groups in the territory that have additional equipment thanks to a company's new grant program.

This year Enbridge Pipelines Inc. launched its Safe Community Canada Program. The program is designed to provide financial support to first response emergency organizations in rural communities along Enbridge's pipelines' right of ways so they can purchase new safety related equipment, obtain professional training or deliver safety educational programs.

Ann Marie Tout, left, the northern region manager of Enbridge Pipelines (NW) Inc., and Pat Rowe, the Fort Simpson Volunteer Fire Department's fire chief, stand with one of the self-contained breathing apparatus bottles that a grant from the company will allow the department to refill more safely. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

The Fort Simpson Volunteer Fire Department applied for and received a $10,000 grant to purchase a defragmentation station. The station encloses self-contained breathing apparatus bottles as they're being filled so if a bottle fails no one will be injured, said Pat Rowe, the department's fire chief.

The station has already been ordered and is expected to arrive after the ice bridge is finished. The station fits with the department's personal safety program and it will also benefit other volunteer departments in local communities that need to refill their bottles, said Rowe.

The bottles need to be refilled after every use and without the station firefighters have been doing so very carefully. Without the grant the department wouldn't have been able to buy the station any time in the near future, Rowe said.

"We find Enbridge to be an extremely good corporate citizen and have enjoyed great support from them since the onset of the pipeline," he said.

The other two volunteer fire departments that received grants this year are Tulita's, which received $7,500 for bunker gear, and Norman Well's, which got $9,000 for a water monitor for their fire truck.

Only three organizations applied to the program this year. Because it was the program's first year and each applicant met the necessary criteria they were all given grants, said Ann Marie Tout, the northern region manager for Enbridge Pipelines (NW) Inc.

"Volunteer fire departments because of their nature are really important to Enbridge," said Tout.

Volunteers drive the departments and communities can't always supply them with sufficient funding, Tout said. Enbridge wants to give whatever motivation possible to support the departments and keep people active in them, she said.

In addition to fire departments the program is open to first responders, police agencies, emergency medical services and other related health providers who respond to emergencies in Enbridge's right of way communities. The program is modelled after the Enbridge 9-1-1 Fund that was established in the U.S. by Enbridge Energy Partners in 2002.