County fire chief gives report to council

By Justin Seward

Commentator/Courier

The County of Forty Mile’s fire chief Dustin McGarry gave council his report on what was a busy October in the area at the Nov. 8 regular meeting.

He noted there were nine calls in October which included five fires, one MFR call, one rescue and two false alarms.
The county assisted Cypress County with the Hilda fire by sending the county fire chief along with four Foremost members, three Burdett members, a command vehicle, and two fire trucks.
The county fire chief attended the Southern Alberta Fire Training conference in Lethbridge. The newest fire tactics and strategies were discussed.
According to the information at the conference, the strategies used as early as last year are deemed unsafe for current fire attacks.
Fire Prevention Week was from Oct. 8-14. The county fire chief and Burdett firefighter Kristie Sereda took the Burdett kindergarten class on a tour of the fire hall and told them to always have a secondary escape route.
McGarry along with Foremost firefighter Travis Hougan also spoke about the same topic to the Foremost kindergarten class.
Burdett School’s Grade 1-4 students participated in simulation fire exercise for a bedroom and learning how to get out safely.
The county fire chief went through all the halls with a Jubilee insurance to update all the vehicle and building insurance.
The fire chief was in attendance for the PRSD Hour Zero protocols to observe the procedure for a fire drill.
The Burdett Fire Hall’s roof has not been repaired because the contractor who was doing the repair work did a final inspection and found a poor workmanship from the previous insurance claim. The previous contractor has been contacted and will be doing the repair work to the leaking tin roof and damaged drywall.