Saturday, November 28, 2009

Weymouth Fire Department hands out Firefighter Awards


Story by Karla Kelly, The Digby Courier

Two Weymouth volunteer firefighters and the village commissioner received special recognition at the fire department’s annual Christmas banquet at the Weymouth fire hall Saturday night.

In presenting the awards, fire chief Roy Mullen expressed appreciation for the ongoing support of the volunteer members of the department. “Not every firefighter is able to respond to all the calls the department receives, but there is always more than adequate support for any emergency,” Mullen said. “We have a dedicated group of firefighters and I am appreciative of the support they not only give me as chief but the community they serve as well.”

Weymouth village commissioner Barry Faulkner was recognized for outstanding and continuous support to the Weymouth Fire Department.

Paul Raymond received the Firefighter of the Year award, while the First Responder of the Year award went to Norman Penny.

Need Firefighter Awards for your department? We offer a wide selection of Firefighter Plaques, Firefighter Trophies and other Firefighter Presentation Awards. Visit us at www.fireemporium.com.


Becky Harmata
The Fire Emporium
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009

"They (Firefighters) Saved My Wife's Life"

A pair of off-duty Kingston firefighters are being credited with saving a woman's life after a car wreck in a northern Ontario snowstorm last weekend.

The man driving the minivan involved in the accident with a loaded tractor-trailer says Craig Rundle and Tim Restoule, who work on the same crew at the Brock Street fire hall, saved his wife's life after the crash near Ignace last Saturday afternoon.

The two firefighters were returning from their annual elk-hunting trip in Alberta when they happened upon an accident between a jackknifed transport truck and a minivan on a desolate stretch of the Trans-Canada near Ignace, Ontario, just minutes after it occurred.

Dunk's wife was trapped in the car with injuries including a large gash on her leg and was going into shock.

Dunk wasn't seriously hurt, but says the two firefighters calmed him down at the scene.

"One of the biggest things they did was stop me from pulling my wife out of the car and making her injuries worse," he said.

The two firefighters carried a first aid kit in their truck-"a little bigger kit than most people would carry" Restoule acknowledged -- and treated Dunk's wife while still trapped in the car, covering her with jackets and blankets to stop her going further into shock and stopping her bleeding.

They did the same to Dunk when they noticed him starting to shake as the adrenaline from the accident wore off.

It took nearly an hour for help to reach the scene, owing to the worsening weather and confusion about where the accident occurred, and the two kept the trapped woman stable.

The firefighters play down their contribution, saying any other first responder would have done the same, and didn't make a big deal out of the incident. It was Dunk who contacted the media to publicly express his thanks.

"These two guys were totally professional and I can't say how grateful I am that they were there, because there's no question in my mind that they saved my wife's life."

Story courtesay of The Kingston Whig Standard. Click here to read the full article.


Becky Harmata
The Fire Emporium
Toll Free: 866-832-1468
Fax: 250-769-3588
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Waterloo Firefighter Best in the World

He’s the strongest firefighter in the world. He’s Dwayne Drover, a Waterloo firefighter who won the World’s Firefighter Combat Challenge in Las Vegas last weekend.

“I won the world championship,” Drover said Monday. “It is still surreal. I still don’t believe it.”

He beat 100 other teams from around the world and beat the American firefighter who has held the world’s title for the past three years.

“This is the race that is going to go down in the books,” Drover said of beating the previous three-time champion.

“I was considered the underdog going into it and I came out on top,” said the 34-year-old firefighter.

The competition involves a gruelling obstacle course.

Firefighters, dressed in their uniforms, complete with helmets and oxygen tanks, drag about 20 kilograms of hose up more than six flights of stairs.

They haul another 19 kilograms of hose up by rope and then must run down the stairs without missing a step.

They tackle a “forcible entry machine,” where competitors must move a 63-kilogram pressured device 1.5 metre by hitting it with a rubber sledgehammer.

Firefighters drag a 153-kilogram running hose 22.5 metres and then hit a target before navigating a series of pylons.

Then there’s Rescue Randy, the 79-kilogram dummy that competitors drag backward 30 metres.

They must finish in less than two minutes.

Drover did it in one minute, 26 seconds.

“It is what they call the toughest two minutes in sports,” said the five-year firefighter.

And what’s the attraction of putting yourself through this ordeal.

“I just love challenging myself,” Drover said.

He takes the sport so seriously that he trains up to 30 hours a week and works with a personal trainer.

And he plans to defend the title next year.

“Getting there is hard enough, but keeping it is ever harder.”

Article courtesay of The Record.


Becky Harmata
The Fire Emporium
Toll Free: 866-832-1468
Fax: 250-769-3588
Email: info@fireemporium.com
Web: http://www.fireemporium.com

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