Kelowna Fire Chief Stepping Down

Kelowna Fire Chief Stepping Down
by contributed

Chief Rene Blanleil has left the Kelowna Fire Department after 18 years of service. The City of Kelowna and Chief Blanleil mutually agreed this was a good time for a change.

"These decision are never easy", says Charlene Covington, Director of Human Resources. "We wish Rene all the best with his future endeavours.

To read the full story, click here.

Becky Harmata
The Fire Emporium
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Firefighter Job Description

I came across this article on http://www.bestjobdescriptions.com/. It just goes to show that the job of a firefighter is truley all encompassing. You never know what you will come across in a day on the job of a firefighter!

The Firefighter job involves the protection of life and property by combating, extinguishing and preventing fires.

The Firefighters primary objectives are:

The Firefighter primary objective is to save the life of a person.
The Firefighter objective is the protection of life and property.
The Firefighter objective is to combat fires by extinguishing or preventing fires.

The Firefighters work consists in constant training for and participating in fire fighting duties. The Firefighter often provides emergency care for sick and injured persons. The Firefighter participates in fire prevention activities on their assigned shifts. Often the Firefighter may go to schools and participate in fire drills. The teaching of children on what to do is very important in saving lives. In past history a Dalmatian dog was saved from a fire and became known as Sparky the “Fire House Dog”. Coloring books with instructions for young children were created to help teach them what to do in case of a fire.

For full article click here.

Becky Harmata
The Fire Emporium
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"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
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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
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Brampton Firefighters Claim 3 Regional Championships

Brampton firefighters claim three regional championships
By Pam Douglas The Caledon Enterprise

Brampton firefighters claimed three regional championships in the FireFit Challenge at Chinguacousy Park this past weekend, taking every event in which they competed.

The Brampton 1 team won both the relay and team competitions, while the Over 40 team topped its relay event.

Brampton Fire Chief Andy MacDonald, a member of the winning Over 40 team, said the wins set the stage for next year when Brampton will host the big event— the FireFit Canadian Championships.

“It was a tremendous success,” MacDonald said of the regional competition.

This year, the national championships will be held in Gaspe, Quebec, Sept. 3-6.

The sixth annual Blazin’ Summer Weekend FireFit Regional Challenge brought thousands out to the stands to watch, despite a downpour Saturday afternoon.

The Brampton 1 team consisted of Brad Welsh, Steve Keegstra, Drew Heurter, Sean Romanek and Chad Abra.

The Over 40 team included MacDonald and Peter Reid, Mark Evans, Dan Rowland (three former Canadian champions) and Marcel Fournel.

The FireFit Challenge is a race against the clock performed in full firefighting gear. They climb, pull, spray and drag their way to the finish line in team, individual and relay competitions.

The competition simulates firefighting tasks often required during emergency situations, such as running up flights of stairs carrying a hose and dragging a ‘victim’ across the finish line.
Participants run up a five-storey FireFit tower, fully clothed in heavy firefighter gear, breathing apparatus and boots and carrying a 20 kilogram roll of hose, pull a rope attached to another 20 kilogram roll of hose up from the ground and run down again.

Competitors then must move a 65 kilogram weight nearly two metres with a hammer, run a slalom course to pick up a fire hose that weighs 150 kilogram when extended and hit a target with the water stream.

They then pick up a life-sized dummy, the weight of an average man, and drag it a distance of 30 m.


Becky Harmata
The Fire Emporium
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'Line of Duty Death' - Firefighters give cancer victim grand sendoff.

Alberta firefighters buried one of their own yesterday while urging the province to add to the list of "presumptive" job-related cancers it recognizes for compensation. That includes esophageal cancer, the disease that killed Capt. Alexander Fred Harris a week ago.

The union has declared Harris's death "a line of duty death" and gave him a grand send off yesterday afternoon as hundreds of firefighters marched through downtown to the First Presbyterian Church to bid farewell to the 53-year-old who died June 20.

A fleet of fire trucks lined 100 Avenue and 105 Street and a large Canadian flag fluttered in the air, hoisted by two fire truck ladders, while a bagpiper played a solemn tune.

Mourners hugged, held hands and looked on with tears in their eyes as a group of eight pallbearers unloaded Harris's casket from a fire truck adorned with a funerary wreath and black drapes.

After the service, a flag-folding ceremony was held. The Maple Leaf and Harris's cap were presented to his wife, Sharon Harris, followed by a Last Bell Ceremony. His body was later interred at Glory Hill Cemetery.

"Capt. Harris was the type of man where within 10 mins of meeting him, you felt like he had been your best friend your whole life," said Greg Holubowich, president of Edmonton Firefighters' Union. "He was a firefighter's firefighter who was always concerned about the people he helped. You always trusted he had your back in a fire."

Holubowich said Harris, a married father of two grown children and a 30-year fire veteran had been preparing for retirement and had even planned to open a business restoring antique cars before he was struck by the illness.
Article from the Edmonton Sun

Becky Harmata
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Should You Marry a Firefighter?

In my research I came across this great blog article. I don't think it could be said any better. Whether you are not married yet or have been for a long time, you will find yourself smiling and nodding saying, been there, done that!

Becky

Someone found our blog by Googling, “Should I marry a firefighter?” It’s an interesting question, really.
When FireDad and I said our vows, we had already been through the long and involved process of testing and interviewing to be hired by the fire department. We were actually enduring the middle of a hiring freeze as I walked down the aisle toward him on that cold, December day. Prior to all of this, during our dating days (and, really, prior to me), he was a volunteer firefighter (and paid the bills as a Paramedic). I had an inkling of what fire life would be like but… I also had no clue. He was hired by the fire department shortly after our wedding. And during our honeymooning year, I got the baptismal by fire, literally, into the depths of fire life.
And so, I have some advice, of course, having lived this life for five years now.
Don’t marry a firefighter if you are relying on their presence or the stability of their schedule. The pager will go off on Christmas Eve as you are trying to build a bike together. There will be a fully involved structure fire on the morning of your big interview, leaving you scrambling to find child care. They will work on your birthday, their birthday, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and every other holiday imaginable. Not all in the same year (though that list in the previous sentence is true for us this year, sigh) but eventually, all of them. More in some years than in others. On days you have plans to work on the house or get things done, they will be needed at the fire house. On a day that you planned on doing nothing more than relaxing, the sound of fire sirens leaving the station will bring a halt to your attempt at relaxation, nerves ....Read more

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