It's the first time a Lac La Ronge Indian Band fire department placed at nationals. (File photo/Government of Saskatchewan)

By Derek Cornet

Fire Drills

Third-place win for Morin Lake Fire Department at national competition

Aug 18, 2020 | 2:29 PM

Members of the Morin Lake Fire Department have placed third in a national competition highlighting their skills.

The competition was hosted by the Aboriginal Firefighters Assocation of Canada and, for the first time, moved to an online video submission format this year due to the coronavirus. In order to make it to nationals, Deputy-Fire Chief Leonard Halkett said they first had to submit a video for Fire Safety Week about kitchen safety.

“We’ve been doing this every year for the past five years,” he said. “Last time one of our departments placed with the Lac La Ronge Indian Band was 2006, but they placed third in regionals. This is the first time any department has made it to nationals and placed at nationals.”

The Morin Lake Fire Department became regional champions after their video was deemed the most popular in Saskatchewan. The second video submitted for nationals involved completing two revolutions, which are fire drills aimed at skill development. In that video, the fire department did a bucket relay and a transition drill.

As opposed to the regional competition, Halkett noted nationals was judged by a committee who picked the winners. The Atlantic region, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Quebec are the teams that advanced to nationals.

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“I was really proud of the whole team,” Halkett said. “It was important for us to represent our community and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band. When we advanced past regionals, we got to represent the Province of Saskatchewan, so it was a pretty proud moment for me.”

Halkett believes the fire department did so well due to support from the community. For instance, he said one community member created the videos and another volunteered the use of their kitchen.

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno