LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
Thanks to funding from Enbridge, Fort Simpson's fire department now has detectors that cover a wide range of noxious substances.

Enbridge area supervisor Mark Gerlock shakes hands with Fort Simpson Fire Chief Roger Pilling. Fort Simpson's fire department recently received funding for a gas detector. - April Hudson/NNSL photo

The equipment can be used for confined space entry but also for carbon monoxide detecting. Carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide from burning buildings, H2S, methane and oxygen levels can all be measured with the devices.

The detectors are an upgrade from previous equipment that could only detect carbon monoxide levels.

Fire Chief Roger Pilling said the equipment is useful for post-fire investigations as well as salvage and overhaul operations once emergency staff begin digging around in the remains of a structure or area.

"Often we don't know what that environment is going to be like," Pilling said.

Although Fort Simpson's fire crew does not usually have to do confined-space entries, Pilling said the equipment is a proactive means of ensuring they can respond properly to such situations if they crop up.

"If someone is working in a ditch and all of a sudden they collapse, we can take the detector and see if there's something there. We can make sure it's safe for us," he said.

"There isn't a lot of that around here but ... that's something that kills a lot of firefighters every year in other places."

The equipment cost $10,400, with Enbridge covering $10,000 and the fire hall chipping in $400. Pilling accessed funding under Enbridge's Community Investment Fund, within the category of Safe Communities.

He said it took the department three years of back-and-forth with companies to decide what equipment they wanted to purchase.

"The Enbridge funding is what really made us say, 'We've got to decide,' " he said.

Mark Gerlock, area supervisor for Enbridge, said the process was helped along by the good communication between Enbridge and the Fort Simpson fire department, as well as the work Pilling put into applying for funds.

"(Pilling) does a good job in putting the package together for the application, and that's considered as well," he said.

"I want to commend the fire department, on behalf of Enbridge, for their service, initiative and motivation. That encompasses the Deh Cho region very well."

Gerlock said the Safe Communities funding is an investment into the safety of emergency responders in communities along the pipeline corridor.

"This type of equipment can go a long way, but you can't go a long way without it," he said.